Boy, 11, With AIDS Antibodies, Can Go Back to His School

An 11-year-old hemophiliac whose blood contains AIDS antibodies must be allowed to return to school, an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.

Channon Phipps, who was assigned to a fifth-grade class at Rancho Canada Elementary School in El Toro two weeks ago in anticipation of the ruling, may be back on the playground by Monday, his attorney said. Classes are in recess this week.

In ordering the Saddleback Valley Unified School District to admit Channon to school, Judge Harmon G. Scoville said, “There’s nothing before me that shows me Channon Phipps has AIDS, (and) he poses no danger to himself or to the other 17,000 students . . . . “

‘Oh, Wow!’

When family members explained the ruling to him, Channon grinned and whispered, “Oh, wow!”

Outside the courtroom, Channon said that he was happy but nervous about finally rejoining his classmates, adding:

“It’s been a while since I’ve been back at school . . . . Kids are gonna’ tease me and stuff.”

David C. Larsen, attorney for the school district, said after the hearing that the district is satisfied that the boy does not pose a health threat.

Channon does not have acquired immune deficiency syndrome, but the presence of antibodies indicates that he has been exposed to the deadly virus, presumably through a blood extract he takes for the hemophilia from which he has suffered since birth. The presence of AIDS antibodies means the person can be a carrier of the disease, but not all those with the antibodies develop AIDS.

The Phipps case marks the first known time in California that a student who has AIDS antibodies but not the disease has been banned from school, according to county health officials and attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU had tried unsuccessfully to intervene in the case on behalf of the Hemophilia Foundation of Southern California.

Other Youth Readmitted

In the only other known case involving a child with AIDS antibodies who was barred from his school in Queens, N.Y., a judge last week ordered that student reinstated.

Scoville said he based his decision on a report by Dr. Thomas Prendergast, county director of epidemiology and disease control. Prendergast interviewed and examined Channon on Feb. 10 and reviewed medical records provided by the boy’s physician.

Prendergast wrote: “It is our conclusion that his admission to a regular school campus of the district poses no substantial risk to himself, to his classmates or to members of the school staff. . . . “

Both the judge and Prendergast recommended that Channon be re-evaluated every six months or sooner if his guardian or school officials became “concerned about any change in his behavior or physical condition.”

After the hearing, Prendergast said that Channon is a “very healthy young man” and a “nice kid,” and that his recommendation was “based on the assumption” that Channon has the AIDS virus, although new tests to determine that have not been concluded.

School board members and district spokesmen said that although some parents have expressed concern, they do not expect that any parents will withdraw their children from classes.

But Channon’s aunt and guardian, Deborha Phipps, said: “The last I heard, there were about 30 parents threatening to pull their kids out of the school. Out of a whole school, 30 parents is (a small number), and you can’t please everyone, so I’m comfortable with that.”

Phipps was referring to a meeting convened by the district a few weeks ago so that Prendergast could answer questions concerning AIDS and its transmission. Prendergast said that six or seven families were extremely upset about the case, but that none of them actually said they would withdraw their children from classes. Phipps was not at the hearing, but her fiance and Channon were there.

“It got pretty heated and his teacher led (Channon and her fiance) out a back room,” Phipps said. “Channon came home and cried a little bit. He knows it’s not going to be easy on him . . . . He also knows that they could tease him for just about anything because kids are kids.”

Scoville’s decision came as little surprise to the Phipps family and the district. On Feb. 6, the judge ruled that Channon should be reinstated unless new examinations by Prendergast showed that the boy was “contagious or infectious.”

District officials barred Channon from school in November and paid to have him tutored at home until, they said, they could be sure he was not contagious. Deborha Phipps sued the Saddleback district on Nov. 26 to have him reinstated.

But why he was not in school from September until then is disputed by both sides. District officials maintain that his family chose to keep him out of school when classes began last September. Deborha Phipps says that district officials told her not to bring Channon to school after she informed them last August that his blood contained AIDS antibodies.

The school board will vote Tuesday on a proposed admissions policy dealing with students with AIDS or those who have AIDS antibodies.