Posted on 10/28/2014 3:04:40 PM PDT by knak
MILFORD -- The family of a 7-year-old girl is suing the city and the Milford Public Schools after officials allegedly refused to allow the child to return to school following a family trip to Nigeria. According to the 16-page suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, city officials said they based their decision on fears over the outbreak of Ebola overseas.
But a lawyer representing the child and her family said she was never sick, and was never at risk for the disease and that the city and school district acted irresponsibly. "One would think that a school, an instituion of learning, wouldn't take such an action," said Gary Phelan, a partner at the law firm Mitchell and Sheahan in Stratford. "They decided it's more important to go along with fears, stereotypes and a lack of information" than to protect the student.
The family is seeking $250,000 in damages and asking that the child be allowed to return to class immediately at Meadowside Elementary School, where she is a third grader.
According to the lawsuit, the child -- Ikeoluwa Opayemi -- traveled with her father, Stephen Opayemi Oct. 2 to 13 to Lagos, Nigeria for a family wedding. On the Oct. 10, Milford health director and school medical advisor Andrew Dennis McBride reportedly called Ikeoluwa's mother, Ikeolapo Opayemi, and told her that the Connecticut Department of Public Health had told local public health departments to screen everyone who had recently traveled to Africa for Ebola. The mother aggreed that her daughter could be screened when she returned to the United States.
But, the day that Ikeoluwa and her father came back into the country, McBride reportedly called the family and said that Ikeoluwa shouldn't return to Meadowside, due to concern from some parents and teachers that she could transmit Ebola to other students.
Ebola is a contagious illness that has killed more than 4,000 people, mostly in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Though there was a small outbeak of Ebola in Nigeria, which caused 19 illness and seven deaths, there hasn't been a case in the country in more than a month.
Department of Public Health spokesman William Gerrish wouldn't comment on whether the department has requested screenings of everyone who has been to Africa. However, screening protocols released by the department of health released on Monday only said that travelers from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone would be monitored for Ebola upon returning to the United States. Nigeria hasn't been mentioned as a "red flag" country by state health authorities.
According to the lawsuit, after McBride's request, Stephen Opayemi offering to have his daughter screened by an independent doctor for Ebola. McBride reportedly declined.
At a meeting on Oct. 15, between McBride, Ikeoluwa's parents, Milford Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth Feser and Meadowside principal Gail Krois, McBride said Ikeoluwa should be kept at home for 21 days. The lawsuit alleges that McBride told the family "although the `risk of infection' with Ikeoluwa might be minor, the primary reason for his decision that she be `quarantined' at home for 21 days was due to the rumors, panic and climate at Meadowside."
A few days later, Stephen Opayemi sent an email to McBride, Feser and Krois saying that, unless he received an official email confirming McBride's instructions to keep his dauther at home, his daughter would return to school on Monday, Oct. 20. During a follow-up meeting between Feser, Ikeoluwa's parents and other school officials, Feser said the girl shouldn't return to school until this coming Monday. Feser added that if the girl did return to school on Oct. 20, she would be removed by police.
McBride wouldn't comment on the lawsuit, saying he can't speak on pending litigation.
Ikeoluwa remains at home, despite completing a medical evaluation on Oct. 24 that concluded that she was health and could participate in school without restrictions. Phelan said Ikeoluwa has been tutored at home since the "quarantine" order was issued.
Phelan is suing under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Though Ikeoluwa doesn't have a disability, Phelan said the act also protects those who don't have a disability, but are treated like they do.
Suing under the ADA means the family can't seek punitive damages, Phelan said. The parents are just looking to be compensated for legal costs and their daughter's emotional trauma and for their daughter to be allowed to return to school as soon as possible.
He said the Opayemi family was reluctant to file the suit, but ultimately decided to do so for several reasons. The first was so "their daughter, in the future, would know they fought for her," Phelan said.
But Phelan said the family also hopes to quell some of the misinformation about Ebola and to prevent other families from going through this. "Perhaps this will deter other municipalities from taking this kind of action," he said.
Stephen Opayemi
Managing Partner at LogistixOne LLC and Director at Kato International Marketing & Distribution LLC
Greater New York City Area
Food & Beverages
Current
LogistixOne LLC,
Kato International Marketing & Distribution LLC
Previous
Promasidor,
Diageo North America, Norwalk CT, U.S.A,
Procter & Gamble (West Africa)
Education
University of Ibadan
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stephen-opayemi/2/422/720
Yep - gutter scum.
The school is being stupid here since Nigeria is not one of those places with an out of control epidemic. They should publicly apologise to this little girl (to put an end to any stigma) but there is no way they should be paying a quarter million to the family.
The school doesn’t know the difference between Nigeria and Liberia. There has been no Ebola in Nigeria since August. She is more likely to catch it in the US than she is to infect someone.
I really wish they would stop PCing us to death, it’s most unhelpful when what is called for is being rational. IT’S A FRICKING DISEASE!!!
Now, Obama will bring Africans with Ebola here for treatment because YOU OWE THEM! It's not their fault they were born in Africa.
Maybe this should be the beginning of a school-wide geography project!
There might be some ignorance, but I agree ma’am, not a quarter mill worth. Something like tutoring the kid back up to level and confessing the error to the student body and parents ought to be plenty. Nobody’s asked for a quarantine on NIGeria. The Ebola problem is in LIBeria.
It stinks that the lawyers have this country all constipated so that any thing simple and sensible, like apologizing to and making a fuss over a little girl, is viewed as an admission of guilt and indication that yes indeedy, major financial compensation is due!
If I understand school funding correctly for MN, you must have a certain percentage of students at school for a set number of days to receive state funding. If this state is like MN and parents out of fear of ebola kept their kids home and away from this girl for three weeks it could affect the budget for the school. Kids probably told their parents about a classmate’s upcoming trip to Nigeria. Word spread among the community. Parents are usually pretty good at communicating concerns to the teachers and administrators who then may have seen a financial disaster looming so put a quarantine on the returning student to satisfy the parents and not affect school funding. Just my $.02.
It’s like where did grace go, or everybody has become a bunch of snakes now.
There really does need to be a way to make this right, without making it even more wrong by victimizing the taxpayers!
This sounds so warped. It looks like there was a colossal misunderstanding that aches to be aired out, but not a wrong to the tune of 250 grand smackeroos.
And yes, a geography lesson... starting with Google Maps folks, where is Liberia? Where is Nigeria?
Sad and true.
It would be such an opportunity to teach the community what Nigeria is... and probably it has a better health care system than Liberia anyhow and many other things it can rightly boast of.
Instead they stick a rotten lemon in the community’s face. That is so wrong.
This is CT. The school will cave and pay them off.
Is this the African negro version of red necks?
Now that the two nurses have “survived” their Ebola infection, the CDC/White Hut/Medical community/Liberals will relax and get all soft on quarantines, common sense avoidance strategies, etc. etc. “It’s ok - it’s curable!” they’ll shout from the mountain tops. Bull shit, I say. Curable? -only if you’re one of the lucky few who will be admitted to one of the four specialized ebola clinics (count them, only f.o.u.r.) in the entire country that are capable of properly and safely treating the disease.
Aside from the natural inclination of the school officials to want to prevent an ebola outbreak amongst the students and then the rest of the community, they are probably less fearful of one lawsuit than of a school-load of lawsuits if any other student caught the virus.
Are the parents liberal operatives or simply victimhood-seekers? How much trouble was it to have their child at home, presumably with schoolwork to do?
That will eventually grow, but not without much experience.
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