AIDS-Stricken Teacher Putting Schools to Test

In a case said to be the first of its kind in the state, the Orange County Department of Education is seeking court advice on how to deal with a teacher with AIDS who insists that he is prepared to return to the classroom.

The department filed papers in Orange County Superior Court on Thursday asking for a judge’s advice--legally called a “declaratory judgment”--on whether the teacher has the right to return to work.

The department also wants to know whether it has “a duty to disclose to parents, students, employees and other co-workers the identity” of the unnamed teacher.

While teachers elsewhere in the state have come down with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome, the Orange County case appears to be the first in which a teacher is asserting a legal right to continue teaching, according to Deputy Atty. Gen. Anne Jennings of the attorney general’s AIDS Task Force and other legal and education officials.

Special Schools

The Orange County instructor, identified only as “John Doe” in court papers, is one of about 200 teachers on the county Education Department payroll. The teachers work in special schools throughout the county, instructing handicapped children and juveniles under detention for various crimes.

The teacher’s assigned school and teaching specialty were also not disclosed.

Ronald D. Wenkart, attorney for the county Department of Education, said the department learned about the teacher’s AIDS illness in May. He said no court action was sought then “because we were discussing with him other assignments, such as work he could do at home.”

But when the teacher insisted that he was capable of returning to his classroom in September, Wenkart said, the department decided to seek a declaratory judgment.

“We really felt the most prudent course to take was to seek court advice in this matter,” added Fred Koch, deputy superintendent of the Department of Education.

Jennings said recent court cases indicate that the Orange County teacher has the right to go back to his classroom “unless it is shown that he’s not capable or qualified to do the job.” She said the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Commission has ruled that AIDS is a handicap and is thus covered by state laws forbidding discrimination against the handicapped.