A 14-year-old boy with HIV whose federal lawsuit prompted an antibias policy at the Milton Hershey School won’t be able to personally benefit from the new policy.
According to court papers filed earlier this month, the boy has agreed to never reapply for admission to the K-12 boarding school, located in Hershey, Pa.
In return, he’ll receive $600,000 from the school to be placed in a trust fund for his education, and his mother will receive $100,000.
The boy and his mother are identified in court papers by the pseudonyms “Abraham Smith” and “Mother Smith.”
The Hershey School is one of the wealthiest in the world, with more than $6 billion in assets from a charitable trust, according to court papers.
Last year, officials declined to process the boy’s application for admission, on the basis that his attendance would pose a “direct threat” to other students.
In November, AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania filed suit on behalf of the boy and his mother.
A settlement was announced last month, pending approval by U.S. District Judge Darnell C. Jones 2d.
Under the settlement, the school also will pay the law project an undisclosed amount for attorneys’ fees and costs.
Ronda B. Goldfein, executive director of the law project, said the boy doesn’t want to attend the school due to negative comments made about him by school officials.
Thus, the provision of the settlement preventing him from reapplying wasn’t a major issue, she said.
“[School officials] said a lot of things in the press that made him feel uncomfortable,” Goldfein said. “It would be hard for an adult to put aside some of the insensitive comments of the school. For a 14-year-old boy, it would be virtually impossible to feel perfectly comfortable there.”
She said it’s not unusual for parties settling a legal dispute to sever future ties.
“When parties are done with each other, they’re done,” she said. “We don’t know what’s in [school officials’] heart. But they’ve publicly told the world they won’t deny admission to kids based on HIV. This is a clear, strong message to kids that they need not fear applying to that school if they have HIV.”
Lisa Scullin, a spokesperson for the school, said school officials are focused on implementing the settlement.
“President [Anthony] Colistra has appointed and begun working with an inter-departmental team to coordinate implementation of the settlement,” she said in an email.
Scullin had no comment about the provision of the settlement preventing the boy from reapplying for admission.
In August, the school announced it was offering fall admission to the boy.
But there was no public offer of monetary compensation to the boy and his mother at that time, and the lawsuit continued.
The U.S. Department of Justice initiated an investigation last year, and concluded that the school illegally discriminated against the boy and his mother.
Goldfein appreciates DOJ’s findings.
“It was clear to us from the beginning that the decision to deny Abraham Smith admission violated the law,” she said. “We are pleased, but not surprised, the DOJ agreed with our assessment.”
The school also agreed to pay the government $15,000, which represents a civil penalty the school could have received if the DOJ had pursued an enforcement action.
Under the settlement, the school will conduct a variety of HIV-related education and training programs for staff and students.
It also will notify the DOJ of any HIV-positive students or applicants that it becomes aware of, and update the DOJ on its handling of those individuals.
The DOJ will monitor the school through June 2016, when the boy would have graduated if he enrolled.
Goldfein said the boy is grateful that the ordeal is over.
“He’s very happy this is resolved, and it’s behind him,” she said.
She also said the settlement has a deterrent effect for other schools that may consider mistreating a student or applicant with HIV/AIDS.
“A cash payout sends a loud, clear message to the Hershey School — and to anybody else who’s considering this type of illegal conduct — that this will cost you,” she said. “We live in a society where people are punished by various ways. One of the ways is that if you have bad behavior, this will cost you money. This settlement sends that message.”
Goldfein also said the settlement avoids the rigors of a lengthy trial.
“Our eyes were always on the fact that we have a 14-year-old boy who’s trying to live an ordinary life. To the extent we were able to get a tremendous settlement, send a clear message to the world, get the school to openly admit students with HIV and save Abraham the rigors of a trial — that’s a job well done.”
The settlement doesn’t prevent the boy from applying for employment at the school when he’s older.
But Goldfein doubted that would ever happen.
“Abraham is a smart kid,” she said. “He has his mind on a professional future. I’m hoping the next time we hear about Abraham is because of some incredibly impressive thing that he has accomplished.”