When Melissa decided she wanted to tell her elementary classmates that she had AIDS, her school district planned a way to safeguard the children and educate the community at the same time. In my district in Walnut Creek, California, we are conspicuously aware of our need to practice what we preach about preventive health care. We use the state's Healthy Kids curriculum, and all students are versed on avoiding blood to blood contact.
Teachers take latex gloves to playground duty and keep a pair in their desks.
It was two years ago that Joan Milne notified me and several other school officials that her daughter, a 3rd grader in my elementary school, was HIV positive. Though Melissa's mother had known about her daughter's condition for more than four years, Melissa had only just learned about how she had received a tainted transfusion when she was seven days old, before there were safeguards for the blood supply. Melissa saw her classmates' interest and positive sentiments during health lessons on AIDS, and her desire to tell them about her condition grew stronger. While the district laid the groundwork for sharing this information, we wanted to keep Melissa's news confidential. Obviously, her rights had to be protected, and the health and safety of other children and adults needed to be assured.