El Toro : Boy’s Guardian Sues District in AIDS Case

The guardian of Channon Phipps, the 11-year-old hemophiliac who had been exposed to AIDS antibodies and returned to classes under a court order, sued the Saddleback Valley Unified School District on Wednesday, saying that she and the boy had suffered “severe emotional distress, shock and stigmatization.”

In the lawsuit, filed in Superior Court, Deborah Phipps claims that Channon received inadequate tutoring at home last fall while waiting for the Saddleback board to decide whether the fifth-grader could return to classes at his El Toro school.

Ruling that Channon did not pose a danger to himself or fellow students after medical tests that showed the boy did not have acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a judge ordered him back to classes on Feb. 20.

Saddleback board member Louise Adler declined comment Wednesday.

Deborah Phipps, the boy’s aunt and guardian, said the case has taken a toll on her health. “I’ve been hospitalized on two different occasions, for stress and severe chest pains in the end of January,” and a second time recently for a continuing throat ailment, she said.

Channon is enjoying school and is “doing pretty well. He’s good and strong, he seems to be making it through,” Phipps said. The lawsuit did not specify the amount of damages sought.