No district employee shall release medical information regarding HIV status without written consent from the parent or legal guardian, or from the student if age 18 or over. Neither parents nor physicians are required by current law to inform school authorities of a student's HIV/AIDS infection or results of tests for HIV antibodies. However, any disclosure by the student or parent must be kept confidential unless either the parent or the student (18 years old or older) gives express written permission for each disclosure. Each written consent must identify the specific name of the recipient of the information and the purpose for disclosure. Permission forms that give a blanket permission to share medical information are not adequate for sharing information about HIV/AIDS infection.
PROCEDURE
If a student discloses information to a school site staff member (classified or certificated) that (s)he is, or may be infected with the virus that causes AIDS, it is initially the sole responsibility of that staff member to determine if there is indeed a risk to the student's health and to help acquire support services. Staff members need to know that they cannot share information regarding a student's HIV status with anyone else without signed consent.
There are several things a staff member can do to help a student who privately discloses HIV infection. the staff member can caution the person about the possible consequences of further disclosure. He or she can also help locate an AIDS service organization in the region, a teen crisis center, or hotline. At the same time, the staff member can also explain the positive health care advantages of informing the school AIDS counselor, principal and/or parents while stressing that disclosure is a personal decision.
The following procedures may help the staff member through the process of determining risks, infection confirmation, and student needs. Listed are suggested questions or topics of discussion.
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Before it is determined if the student is infected and there is a health risk, there is no need pursue disclosure of information to any persons outside the original conversation.
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A. The staff member should make her/himself available to privately sit with the student and determine why (s)he feels they may be infected.
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1.
"What experiences in your life make you believe that you may be a risk for HIV infection?" |
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2. "What are you experiencing that causes you to think you have the virus?" |
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3. "How long have you been experiencing these symptoms?" |
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B. If there is still concern about possible infection, after questioning the student, what follows is a need for infection confirmation and a commitment of support. |
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1. "You need to find out if you are or are not infected. If you are, I'll be right here for you. We'll do this together." |
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2. "Do you know about the testing procedure?" |
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3. "How might you get to the testing site?" |
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(Note: It takes one to two weeks to receive the results of an HIV antibody blood test. The student will need comforting support during this time. Besides the blood test, there is an oral culture test that can be administered at a testing site or in a home setting.) |
| 2. If it is confirmed that the student is HIV infected, every means possible to solicit emotional, psychological and medical help should be taken. |
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A. The staff member should allow the student to lead the conversation and draw upon her/his own plans and conclusions. |
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1. "How do you ultimately see this situation unfold?" |
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2. "What are you going to do?" |
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3. "Who besides me, could you tell that would help you through this?" |
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4. "Do your parents know?" |
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5. "I know someone, who is trained, that can help
us with this. Would you be willing to invite
_____a_____ into our conversation?" (a) Parent, school AIDS counselor, principal, Health Department, or another community support agency. |
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(Note: Pursuant to California Health and Safety Code 120980, any person who willfully and/or negligently discloses results of an HIV test to any third party, in a manner that identifies or provides identifying characteristics of the person to whom the test results apply, without written authorization shall be assessed a civil penalty or be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.) |
| 3. Once written permission is obtained and one or more trained professionals or family members are notified, the staff member who originally received the information should keep in contact with the student to continue support. |
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A. Additional persons deemed to have a "direct need to know" may be notified of appropriate information if the informed trained professionals feel that this is essential to protect the health of the infected student. Consent for notifying each additional person must be given by the infected student's parent or guardian. |
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(Note: Direct need to know: When an infected student has a secondary infection that constitutes a medically recognized risk of transmission in the school setting, the people who have a "direct need to know" are the following: superintendent or person designated by the superintendent, personal physician of the infected student, and /or a public health official.) |
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B. Decisions about any changes in the education program of a student who is infected with HIV shall be made on a case-by-case basis, relying on the best available scientific evidence and medical advice. |
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(Note: Case by case determination: All cases involving HIV/AIDS will be determined based upon the facts and circumstances of the individual case. No fixed rule is established that students with HIV/AIDS will be excluded automatically or receive any other predetermined disposition.) |
| 4. If the HIV-infected student is unwilling to disclose information to any other source, the original staff members will inform the school site principal if a clear and present danger to the health, safety, and welfare of the infected student exists. |
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(Note: A clear and present danger to the infected student would be if (s)he is experiencing secondary infection symptoms.) |
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(Note: Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act of 1974 [FERPA, also known as the Buckley Amendment] states that "information that could protect a person's health or safety can be disclosed to appropriate people in an emergency.") |
| SUGGESTED BEHAVIORS |
1.
Schedule a one-on-one meeting with the student. Be a good listener.
2. Through suggested questioning, determine if a health risk to the student exist.
3. Assure support and abide by confidentiality laws.
4. Strongly encourage the student to confirm infection through an HIV antibody test. Do not transport the student.
5. Strongly encourage disclosure of infection to individual(s) who can help and/or support, such as parents, school AIDS counselor, or health department.
6. If student does not comply and staff member identifies a clear and present danger to the student, inform the school principal.
7. Follow through with support whether the student is found to be infected or not. |
