"You want compassion and understanding. This is an attempt to meet the problem and make a reasonable judgment. You're attempting to prevent hysteria."
The guidelines were prepared by a committee chaired by H. Lee Brubacker, supervisor of pupil personnel services, after school districts were advised two years ago by the state to develop policies regarding students or employees with AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome. No students or employees in the district have been affected by the disease, Plotkin said.
Among the guidelines is that the district would withhold the identity of an AIDS victim from everyone except those who "are likely to have regular personal contact with him or her."
"The number of personnel aware should be kept to a minimum," Plotkin said. "It's important to respect (the individual's) right to privacy. . . . All of a sudden, you're stamping him as a pariah, and you have a ring around him of 20 feet. If someone's really sick, he's not going to be in school. He'll be getting home instruction."
Although not specifically stated in the guidelines, any employee would be allowed to refuse to work with an AIDS victim, Plotkin said. "If a person doesn't want to do it, we're not going to force them. . . . Education is the answer."
For example, Plotkin told the board, a teacher taking medication for arthritis might have a lowered immune system and would want to avoid exposure, as would a classmate being treated for leukemia.
He also emphasized that the district's custodial staff would be trained to deal with handling and disposing of bodily secretions, such as vomit..
The proposed guidelines would apply to all people diagnosed as having AIDS, AIDS-related complex and infections of the virus that do not have symptoms.
