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The president of the Milton Hershey
School has apologized to a student denied admission because he has HIV, and MHS
now welcomes his attendance beginning this fall. President Anthony Colistra
said he extended the apology and offer in a July 12 letter to the student and
his mother.
Originally, the Hershey, Pa.-based
school argued the risk of sexual activity in its residential setting, where
students live together in groups of 10-12, would make an HIV-positive teen
there a “threat.” The AIDS Law Project in November filed suit on behalf of the
boy in the US District Court in Philadelphia, citing the Americans with
Disabilities Act, which covers people with HIV.
Now age 14, the student is attending
public school and is considering the MHS offer among his options, said Ronda
Goldfein, his attorney.
“They said he was a threat to
everybody. ... He has to do a lot of thinking about that,” Goldfein said. “We
told them what the law was and they ignored it,” she said, adding that they are
pressing ahead with the case.
Colistra said MHS will no longer
deny admission to qualified students who have HIV, and it is issuing an equal
opportunity policy toward that end. MHS also is planning to train students and
staff on HIV issues, he said.
The “application of federal law to
our unique residential setting was a novel and difficult case,” said Colistra,
who denied MHS did anything wrong in rejecting the boy. However, the US
Department of Justice advised MHS that it “disagrees with how we evaluated the
risks and applied the law,” he said.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
