Irvine Teacher in Key AIDS Case Dies at 45 : Civil rights: Vincent Chalk’s lawsuit against the County Education Department brought a landmark ruling protecting the job security of patients in government jobs.

Vincent Chalk, the Irvine teacher who mde national headlines when he won the right to stay at the helm of his classroom while suffering from AIDS, died Tuesday. He was 45.

Chalk died at St. Mary Medical Center about 5 a.m., said his friend and attorney, Marjorie Rushforth. He was admitted to the hospital Thursday and lapsed into a coma Saturday.

Chalk’s lawsuit against the Orange County Department of Education resulted in a landmark ruling protecting the job security of AIDS patients in government jobs.

“Vincent settled for every person with AIDS who had a federally related paycheck their right to maintain their employment in spite of an AIDS diagnosis,” said Rushforth, who represented Chalk. “It’s important because it’s irreparable injury to put someone out of their job at a time when they need the community support their co-workers give them, the satisfaction of performing useful work in the world, the identity we all derive from our employment, not to mention the insurance benefits.”

Pearl Jemison-Smith, chairwoman of the Orange County HIV Advisory Committee, said she was “drawn to Vincent for his courage.”

“He did for schoolteachers with AIDS what Ryan White did for students with AIDS,” she said, referring to the Indiana youngster who waged a successful battle against AIDS discrimination in public schools. Ryan died of the disease on April 8.

Robert Peterson, the county’s school superintendent, made the decision to remove Chalk from his teaching post. Reflecting on that decision Monday, he said he was concerned not only about protecting students from exposure to the acquired immune deficiency syndrome virus (HIV), but about insulating Chalk from any illnesses students might be carrying.

“We ended up being the unlucky pioneers,” he said. “We brought about some good guidance from the court and ended up getting good information about how the disease is spread.”

Chalk became a celebrity only reluctantly, prevailing in a wearisome court battle against the County Education Department, which had removed him from the classroom and given him an office job writing grant proposals in August, 1987. Education officials said they could not risk exposing Chalk to his students because they were not certain how AIDS was transmitted.

Chalk, a homosexual, contracted pneumonia in February, 1987. Further medical tests revealed that he had AIDS, and he reported his illness to his supervisors.

Thomas Prendergast, chief of the Orange County Health Care Agency’s disease control unit, said Chalk posed no health threat to students or others, but education officials took him out of the classroom anyway, beginning an intense spate of litigation that ultimately broke new ground for those with AIDS.

At first, Chalk sought to remain anonymous but reluctantly revealed his name in an emotional press conference after filing suit to reclaim his job.

Chalk, who taught hearing-impaired students at Venado Middle School and University High School in Irvine, was transformed overnight into a cause celebre for disabled people fighting for their jobs.

“I really don’t feel this is a gay issue,” Chalk said early in his court battle. “It’s really a human rights issue.”

The county had by then removed him from the classroom, barred him from the campus grounds and forbidden him to contact his students.

“The attack on my spirit has been devastating,” Chalk wrote in a court declaration. “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.”

In the fall of 1987, a Los Angeles federal judge refused to let Chalk return to his class. But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in November of that year that schools could not bar Chalk from teaching.

He returned to his post. In May, 1988, Chalk agreed to accept $35,000 from the education department to settle his lawsuit.

In a landmark decision, the appeals court held that AIDS should be considered a disability under federal law and that people with AIDS who hold government jobs should be entitled to protection from discrimination.

Reared in the tiny town of Lewis, Kan., Chalk learned resilience early. He was reared a Mormon, and as a youngster had to resist the temptations and teasing of his classmates. They would tease him about his religion, Chalk remembered in a 1989 interview, and press him to smoke or drink.

“It would have been easier to do it, but it was something we didn’t do,” Chalk said. “My mother taught me the values of standing up for what I believe.”

Chalk taught at University High until January, when he cut down to part-time work, Rushforth said. Repeated bouts with various opportunistic infections forced him to quit altogether in June, but he remained optimistic about his recovery and even signed up to be a substitute teacher for this academic year, Rushforth said.

Chalk received his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in 1968. He earned his master’s degree in special education and communication from Cal State Northridge and began teaching in 1971. He began teaching in Orange County schools in 1974.

Chalk is survived by his parents, two sisters and his life partner, John Woesner. A memorial service will be held Thursday at 5 p.m. at Stricklin/Snively Mortuary in Long Beach.

In lieu of flowers, Chalk’s family is requesting that donations be made to Project Ahead, Padua House or Being Alive, all in Long Beach.