Readmission of Student With AIDS Antibodies Is Protested by Parents

About 20 parents, nine of whom made public speeches, protested Tuesday night to the Saddleback Valley Unified School District board about the return to school of an 11-year-old child with AIDS antibodies.

The child, Channon Phipps, returned to Rancho Canada Elementary School in El Toro on Monday. In allowing his readmission, the school board was obeying the order of Superior Court Judge Harmon G. Scoville, who on Thursday said that medical evidence convinced him that the child “poses no danger to the other 17,000 students of the district.”

School board members said Tuesday night that they did not intend to appeal the court order. They noted that all medical specialists consulted about the case have unequivocally said that Channon is no health threat.

“We believe, we really believe, we have a safe situation,” said board member Dore Gilbert, who is a medical doctor.

But parents said in emotional speeches that neither the judge, the school board, nor anyone else can be sure about acquired immune deficiency syndrome, AIDS. The fatal disease is spread by exchange of blood or semen.

Channon does not have the disease, according to all doctors who have examined him. His blood only shows antibodies resisting the AIDS virus; a hemophiliac, he became exposed to AIDS antibodies through donated blood.

Some of the parents said that they feel sorry for Channon but did not want their children in school with him.

“I am scared,” said Jewel England of El Toro whose daughter attends Rancho Canada Elementary School. “We don’t know enough about the disease.”

Rod Litton, who said his daughter also attends the school, criticized the board members for “accepting” the judge’s decision.

‘Those People Had Guts’

“You have accepted the decision of a judge who was on the outside looking in,” Litton said. “You accepted it without a whimper. That amazes me. . . . There’s a group of people in Indiana who did question (an AIDS-related school case). Those people had the guts to do something about it.”

People in the audience applauded Litton. About 35 people attended the meeting, but 15 of those were teachers or visiting parents not protesting the Channon Phipps case.

Tom Sauer said his daughter had not returned to Rancho Canada since Channon was readmitted. “She will not attend,” he said. “I’m not going to subject my child to the possibility of contracting AIDs.” He asked the board, “What are my alternatives?”

Board member Louise Adler said parents such as Sauer have two alternatives. They can look into the district’s existing transfer policy or they can place their children in private schools. Adler, however, urged them to work with the school officials at Rancho Canada and in the district. She said parents’ fears are based on their disbelief of medical opinion, which has repeatedly concluded that AIDS is spread by sexual contact and blood injections or transfusions.

“If you don’t believe the doctors and think AIDS can be spread in the air by being around someone, you are really not safe anywhere,” Adler said.

The alternative to readmitting Channon, board member R. Kent Hann, said, “is to break the law, and we are not going to break the law.”

Board President Raghu Mathur said, “We have been concerned about safety and health at all times.”

Gilbert told the audience: “We are all parents, and nobody loves children more than I love my children. I based my decision on what is best for them. . . . There’s not a board member here who would allow an unsafe condition for a child.”

Parents after the meeting said they were not sure if they would allow their children to go back to Rancho Canada. School district Supt. Peter Hartman said earlier Tuesday that attendance at Rancho Canada had been normal on both Monday and Tuesday.