It Was the Only Fair Conclusion

Monday morning, after being barred for nearly four months from his work teaching deaf children, Vincent Chalk will be back in the classroom where he belongs. But it took the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to get him there.

The decision is significant not only for Chalk and his students but potentially for thousands of others across the nation, because Chalk has AIDS. As such, he contended that the Orange County Department of Education’s refusal to allow him to continue teaching deaf youngsters in two schools in Irvine violated a 1973 federal law that protects the handicapped from job discrimination.

Because the opinion sustaining Chalk’s argument is the first one in the nation handed down by a federal appellate court regarding a victim of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, it is expected to have an influence over other cases involving workers with AIDS. It should.

After evaluating all the medical testimony and facts, the federal court judges came to the only fair and reasonable conclusion they could: There was no medical evidence that Chalk’s presence in the classroom would in any way harm the children.

The ruling should end the controversy, not only for Chalk but for all other handicapped people, including those with AIDS, who are ready, willing and able to do their jobs.