NSBA Releases New Book on Students Living with HIV/AIDS

Alexandria, VA.— November 2 —The National School Boards Association (NSBA) has released Living with HIV/AIDS: Students Tell Their Stories of Stigma, Courage, and Resilience, a new book that focuses on the challenges that students affected by HIV and AIDS have dealt with in growing up and at school, as well as the opportunities school officials have to contribute to their well-being and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.

This book is a timely reminder that 25 years after the first reports of AIDS in the United States, schools still have a significant role to play.  Anne Bryant, executive director of NSBA, states in the book’s preface, “It is time to explore how well children affected by HIV and AIDS are doing in schools and how well schools are doing in fulfilling their responsibility to ensure all students have the opportunity to learn.” Bryant goes on to say that the book is “intended to motivate school policymakers and school personnel to review the appropriateness and effectiveness of their policies and practices related to students with HIV.”

In addition to firsthand accounts of children and their parents who are living with HIV and AIDS, the book also includes recommendations for school officials and personnel as they reflect on the policies and procedures in place in their districts.

This book confirms NSBA’s long-term commitment to education in the field of HIV/AIDS school policies and practices. For 20 years, NSBA has worked with medical, public health, and legal experts to increase the understanding of the science and the issues related to HIV and AIDS. Since 1987, NSBA has received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health to support this work, including publication of Living with HIV/AIDS.

A limited number of copies of Living with HIV/AIDS are available free from NSBA. The entire publication is available in PDF on the NSBA School Health Programs Web site at www.nsba.org/schoolhealth .

Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association is a not-for-profit federation of state associations of school boards representing 95,000 local school board members throughout the United States. Its mission is to foster excellence and equity in public elementary and secondary education through local school board leadership.  NSBA represents the school; board perspective in working with federal government agencies and national organizations that impact education, and provides vital information and services to state associations of school boards throughout the nation.