Connecticut father sues over school's Ebola fear of daughter
A Connecticut father sued a school district for not allowing his daughter to return to the third grade after a trip to a family wedding in Nigeria because teachers and parents feared she might be infected with Ebola.
Stephen Opayemi said he and his 7-year-old daughter returned to the U.S. Oct. 13. He was told by the Milford Public Schools superintendent that his daughter would be removed by police if she went to school Oct. 20, according to a complaint filed yesterday in New Haven federal court.
The family was told their daughter couldn't return to school until Nov. 3, a date based on the 21-day incubation period for the disease, according to the complaint. On Oct. 20, Nigeria was declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization after no new cases were reported in 42 days.
Since then, fears of Ebola spreading in the U.S. have led New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to impose quarantines on travelers returning from parts of West Africa stricken by the disease.
Government officials are struggling to calm fears of contagion while not penalizing aid workers who venture to the countries at the center of the epidemic. In West Africa, the virus has infected about 10,000 people and killed about half, according to the World Health Organization. In the U.S., one man who traveled from Liberia died.
Opayemi said his daughter didn't have a fever or other symptoms of Ebola, and that he offered to have them both tested for it. He accuses the school district of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying access to an education. He seeks damages for her emotional trauma and an order allowing her to immediately return to school.
A representative of the school district didn't immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages yesterday after regular business hours seeking comment on the lawsuit.
The case is Opayemi v. Milford Public Schools, 3:14- cv-01597, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut (New Haven).