Irvine Man Appeals Ruling Against Classroom Posting : Teacher With AIDS Fights Court Action

An Irvine teacher who was barred from the classroom because he has AIDS asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Friday to reinstate him.

Attorneys for Vincent Chalk told the appeals court, “After considerable research and experience, there is no evidence indicating that the AIDS virus could be transmitted from a teacher to a student in the classroom.”

For the last seven years, Chalk, 42, has taught hearing-impaired students for the Orange County Department of Education. Earlier this year, after Chalk told the department that he had acquired immune deficiency syndrome, he was reassigned to a desk job rather than to classrooms at Venado Junior High and University High School in Irvine.

49-Page Appeal

Chalk was asked to prepare instructional material for hearing-impaired students but soon found that he was emotionally and physically unable to do the job, according to a declaration attached to the 49-page appeal.

“The attack on my spirit has been devastating. . . . I feel I have been dealt an unqualified injustice by the decision to remove me not only from my chosen livelihood but also from the support of my loving students and co-workers who made my job, and my life, complete,” Chalk wrote.

Georgia Garrett-Norris, one of Chalk’s attorneys, said she hopes that the appeals court will permit Chalk to return to the classroom before his case against the Department of Education goes to trial, probably early next year. Several private attorneys and the American Civil Liberties Union are representing Chalk.

The appeal was filed in response to a Sept. 8 ruling by U.S. District Judge William P. Gray. Gray turned down Chalk’s request to return to the classroom, saying he was unsure of the risks Chalk might pose to his students.

Chalk contends that he is fit to teach, a position supported by Dr. Thomas J. Prendergast, Orange County epidemiologist.