Ryan Thomas, 10, AIDS Patient Who Won Court Fight With School, Dies
Ryan Thomas, a boy who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion and won a court fight for reinstatement in kindergarten, has died at the age of 10.
The boy died on Thanksgiving Day in an ambulance en route from his Atascadero home to the Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center.
He had gained national attention in 1986 when his parents, Robin and Judy Thomas, won a federal court battle permitting him to attend Santa Rosa Road Elementary School in the Atascadero Unified School District.
Ryan had been suspended from kindergarten for biting another pupil during a scuffle at recess. School officials claimed Ryan was a danger to the other children.
His parents countered that Ryan acted in self-defense after a larger boy attacked him from behind. They said his bite did not break the other boy’s skin.
The American Civil Liberties Union assisted the Thomases in their case, and said the ruling was believed to be the first federal decision in the country asserting that children with AIDS had the right to go to school. Three other state courts--in New York, in Indiana, and in Orange County--had previously ruled that children with AIDS could attend regular classes.
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