Students will get HIV tests

[General Overstand]

By Blythe Bernhard, David Hunn and Steve Giegerich
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/16/2008

Normandy — St. Louis County Health Department officials said Wednesday they will establish a testing center at Normandy High School after determining that "several" Normandy students may have been exposed to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

A routine investigation into the source of the virus following a diagnosis last week led health officials to Normandy High.

On Monday, the district responded by sending Normandy's 1,300 students home with letters that advised parents of the risk.

County health officials said it is the first time in memory that a public health investigation led to a local high school.

"There is concern, but we really don't want to raise alarms here," said health department spokesman Craig LeFebvre. "This is not some major new outbreak or method of transmission, and there's no evidence to suggest it was deliberately being spread."

Not surprisingly, given the rumor mill that is high school, the announcement that the identities of the person or persons exposed to the virus would not be disclosed did little to stop speculation.

Since the letter was sent out Monday, "Everybody is looking at everyone saying, 'Is it you? Is it you?'" said parent Stephanie Harris. "Right now it's more of a scare than anything."

In remarks to approximately 60 parents and school officials attending an information session Wednesday night in the Normandy gymnasium, health department director Dolores J. Gunn cautioned that it is "still early in the investigation."

Joseph Mackofmore, a junior at Normandy, was one of several students who said he will be tested to determine if he is infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

"I know I don't have it, but I want to make sure, so I'll be tested," he said.

The health department will provide Mackofmore and his classmates with that opportunity by establishing a special testing site at the school later this month.

To guarantee discretion, Gunn said, the site will be staffed entirely by health officials.

Students can stop by for counseling, to obtain literature or test for HIV, she said.

Because every student will depart with literature, it will be impossible, she noted, for others to determine who has and has not been tested.

"Our job at the health department is to find as many people as possible who might have been exposed to HIV and get them tested as soon as possible," said Gunn.

LaCharles Harris, a 10th-grader, doesn't see many classmates balking at the opportunity.

The students he has spoken with, Harris said, believe taking the test is a "smart" decision.

He acknowledged that many Normandy students are sexually active.

"But most of them know to use condoms," said Harris.

From the fourth through the 12th grade, the Normandy school district offers the option of enrolling in "About Better Choices," a sex education class.

Even so, Gunn urged parents at Wednesday's information session to engage their children in honest discussions about at-risk behavior.

Parent Linda Harris said the district deserves credit for addressing the issue honestly and openly.

"It's good they targeted it," she said.

Normandy students fear, however, that transparency will come with a price.

"Every school has kids with HIV," said Mackofmore. "But now people are going to say, 'He goes to Normandy, he has AIDS.'"

Normandy Superintendent Stanton E. Lawrence said he was encouraged that, in the two days since word of a possible outbreak, classwork has continued as normally as possible given the circumstances.

About 5 percent of HIV cases in the St. Louis region are diagnosed as teenagers, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

In an area encompassing St. Louis city and St. Louis, St. Charles, Lincoln, Jefferson, Warren and Franklin counties, there were 11 new cases of HIV in the 13-18 age group in 2007.

- Link

[ThatGirl]

Crazy times we're living in

[Nefertari]

false positives...do they take that into account for such a mass testing...

[UmiLove]

I don't understand how they can say that all of these students have been exposed to HIV. This is ridiculous and very crazy. How are they targeting this school and not every other high school where teens participate in the same behavior. I wonder what the parents are saying.

[General Overstand]

By CHERYL WITTENAUER, Associated Press Writer Cheryl Wittenauer, Associated Press Writer

NORMANDY, Mo. – Students at a suburban St. Louis high school headed to the gymnasium for HIV testing this week after an infected person told health officials as many as 50 teenagers might have been exposed to the virus that causes AIDS.

Officials refused to give details on who the person was or how the students at Normandy High School might have been exposed, but the district is consulting with national AIDS organizations as it tries to minimize the fallout and prevent the infection — and misinformation — from spreading.

"There's potential for stigma for all students regardless of whether they're positive or negative," Normandy School District spokesman Doug Hochstedler said Thursday. "The board wants to be sure all children are fully educated."

A teacher in a neighboring district singled out a girl who dates someone at Normandy High and instructed her to get tested, Hochstedler said. A competing school's football team initially balked at playing Normandy's 8-0 team.

Jasmine Lane, a 16-year-old sophomore, said her boyfriend from a neighboring high school broke up with her on learning of the news — after she bought them tickets to homecoming.

"I cried so hard," she said.

Hochstedler said that as far as he knows, no other district has had to handle a similar situation. Students at the school of 1,300 are being tested voluntarily, and the district is getting advice on the best ways to support kids in crisis.

Sophomore Tevin Baldwin said that many of his classmates in this working-class city of about 5,000 residents want to transfer out of the district, which encompasses other towns.

"Nobody knows what's going on," he said. The district declined to respond to his assertion.

Marcus Holman, a 14-year-old freshman, said he never imagined HIV would become such a widespread threat at school.

"I'm just trying to pass, get to the next grade, safely," he said.

Normandy Superintendent Stanton Lawrence agreed that students remain focused on learning, despite concerns and distraction. There's no hysteria or panic, and school is running routinely, he said.

"They recognize this situation is what it is, and doesn't mean school is over," he said. "Their concern is heightened, but we have to face it and do the responsible thing."

The St. Louis County Health Department said last week that a positive HIV test raised concern that students at Normandy might have been exposed. The department is not saying whether the infected person was a student or connected with the school, only that the person indicated as many as 50 students may have been exposed.

The Health Department also will not say how any exposure might have occurred. Health Department spokesman Craig LeFebvre has said the possibilities include sexual activity, intravenous drug use, piercings and tattoos.

Hochstedler said the district doesn't know the person's identity, or even whether he or she is a student.

"We do know there was some potential exposure between that person and students," he said. "We don't know the individual or the route of transmission."

The district learned Oct. 9 of the potential exposure and within a business day worked out with the Health Department how to release the information and handle testing, he said.

"They took a very proactive stance," he said. "There's no precedent for this."

Students are being tested at six stations in the high school gymnasium, one class at a time. Only representatives from the Health Department are with the students, who are offered educational materials and a chance to ask questions before they are given an opportunity to be tested with a mouth swab, Hochstedler said. They may decline.

They exit through a separate door, and no one in the school would know who did or did not get tested.

"It's entirely up to the student," he said. "There's a lot of stigma associated with this."

The district will never know whether or how many of its students tested positive, he said.

"Once they're tested," he said, "it's an issue between the department and the child and his family."

So far, the district has met twice with parents and begun to ask ministers in the community to stress the importance of responsible behavior, Lawrence said.

Students in grades four through 12 already take classes that discuss the consequences of risky behavior, including HIV, he said.

- Link

[tyab14]

This bullshit is all propaganda so scared sheeple can go and be told they have HIV (no matter what) thus categorizing them as terrorists and other horrendous stamps they waiting to place upon people. We always talk about so and so program is coming from the New World Order but all you have to do is look around and see weird ass shit like this. Biggest hoax in the history of allopathic nonsense.

[Midnight]

But I've witnessed with my own eyes how care less these teens are now a days. I swear they act like they are invincible nd they start younger and younger each year. ..Its ashame.

[Amber]

i believe aids/hiv does not exist anwhere but the mind..its crazy how ppl live a normal happy life up untill some dr tells them they have aids then they die in 2 years...

[Source Energy]

Amber, that is so true.  I had a sister who, after being told, died within 6 months.

[General Overstand]

i believe aids/hiv does not exist anwhere but the mind..its crazy how ppl live a normal happy life up untill some dr tells them they have aids then they die in 2 years...

I think this is partially true. From the research I've done, including this site, it seems to be nothing more than a toxic build up, which is the cause of most disease and cancer, on the physical level. Plus the dreaded curse word AIDs effects people on the mental and psychological level. Together it's like a 1 2 punch combination.

[General Overstand]

From ByronCrawford.com:

Word on the street here in the STL is that the HIV scare at Normandy High School might be even more scandalous than you'd think.

Never mind the fact that as many 50 kids in a single school might have AIDS. Supposedly, they might have gotten it from one of their teachers.

This weekend, I heard from a guy who overhead a guy telling another guy that the way the Health Department found out about this shit in the first place is that a student from Normandy High School came in for a routine AIDS test as part of her prenatal care, and, upon being informed that she's HIV positive, implicated a staff member at Normandy as the father of the child and also the source of the AIDS.

Aww dang!

They didn't have any specifics as far as the names of the individuals involved, nor did they say how they found out about this. But St. Louis isn't a very big town. And you have to think that, if word of this has spread to where I'm from, from where it took place, this must not be a very well-kept secret. If it's true, I'm surprised the mainstream media isn't all over this.

Note that I consulted Google just now, before I went in, and I didn't see anyone else reporting this. Though I did find this story from the Riverfront Times, from 2001, about how the principal there was involved in some improper conduct with the students. Also, I heard from someone else, this weekend, that it's been rumored that the staff at Normandy gets it on with the students.

Someone with the tools and the talent needs to get to the bottom of this shit already.

HIV Scare Puts Mo. School in Uncertain Territory - Youtube 

[RAMU]

yo shit crazy here man, I went to Highschool football game the other day and them lil girls is hot in the ass 4real and about 50% of the dudes are flamming gay. no homo, I know at one point here locally we were leading in STDs man these niggas is fucking like rabbits.

word in the streets is that somebody was giving tattoos at school and wasn't properly cleaning the needle but I aint the one to gossip so you aint heard it from me