Irvine : School Board Defers Action on AIDS Policy

The Irvine Unified School District board has deferred action on a proposed AIDS policy until its Jan. 7 meeting, Deputy Supt. Bruce Givner said Wednesday.

Givner said the school board members received a suggested policy on dealing with students who have contracted the acquired immune deficiency syndrome virus at their Tuesday night meeting but deferred action until next month in order to study the issue.

The suggested policy, Givner said, would “essentially follow the procedure for other communicable diseases.” He said that with other communicable diseases, a student or school employee must be known to be healthy again before he or she can return to school.

Under the suggested AIDS policy, Givner said, the student’s or employee’s doctor and the district’s doctor must agree that no health danger exists before the AIDS victim could return to school. “If there were disagreement, it would be referred to a third (medical) party,” Givner said.

Givner said that no AIDS cases have been reported in the Irvine district, and that the proposed policy has simply been a “preparation.”