The father of a third-grade student in Milford is suing the school system for banning the 7-year-old from her elementary school over concerns she may have contracted Ebola during a trip to Nigeria.
According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, a third-grade girl traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, to attend a family wedding with her father from Oct. 2-13.
Although no new cases of Ebola have been reported in Nigeria since Aug. 31 and the World Health Organization has declared the country Ebola free, Milford officials told the girl's family that the girl must stay home from Meadowside Elementary School until Nov. 3 “due to concern from certain parents and teachers that she could transmit Ebola to other children,” the lawsuit alleges.
The girl has not displayed any symptoms of the virus and did not spend any time in the Ebola-stricken counties of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Pediatricians found her to be in good health during an Oct. 24 medical evaluation and cleared the girl to "participate fully in the school program," according to the lawsuit.
Nonetheless, Milford superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Feser warned that if the girl showed up at Meadowside Elementary before Nov. 3, the girl would be “removed from the school by police,” the suit claims.
Feser defended the way that the district handled the situation.
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"On October 28, 2014, a lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut against the Milford Public Schools and City of Milford, claiming that the manner in which we responded to concerns about the return of a student who traveled to West Africa was improper. We deny this allegation," she said in a statement. "In addressing this situation, at all times, my staff and I proceeded in good faith to respond to this public health issue. We acted in the best interest of all of our students and staff."
She said that the district will not be commenting further on the subject due to the pending litigation.
A spokesperson for Gov. Dan Malloy's office told the Associated Press on Tuesday the decision did not come from the state's health commissioner, who has enacted a three-week quarantine order for anyone returning from countries affected by the outbreak.
"This was a decision by the town's public health officials," spokesperson Andrew Doba told the Associated Press. "The state did not play a role in making this determination, and this family is not under any quarantine orders."
Neither the school superintendent nor the Board of Education have returned requests for comment. Milford Public Health Director Dr. Dennis McBride declined to comment, citing the pending legal case.
Parents admitted concern over the possibility of Ebola but said the measures taken are extreme.
"As a parent, I'd have concerns, but I don't know if it's necessarily fair to keep her out for that long and then send a tutor there," said Kristin Pikul, whose son attends Meadowside Elementary. "If the health department says anything, I think that's what I'd go by, and not necessarily just parents that are worried."
The lawsuit alleges that the student "has suffered severe emotional distress and has been denied access to receiving an education at her elementary school."
