A mother says her 5-year-old daughter was inappropriately "strip-searched" by a school nurse at Apison Elementary School multiple times without her permission. And now a federal jury is tasked with determining whether the nurse acted "reasonably" by inspecting the child's body.
The mother is suing the Hamilton County Department of Education, saying that training and policies either were not in place, or were not properly followed, and that the searches violated the constitutional rights of a child with cerebral palsy who is confined to a wheelchair.
Attorney Valerie Epstein argued that the nurse was never authorized by the child's doctor or mother to inspect the girl for rashes related to her congenital herpes simplex, which she contracted at birth and only shows up in a series of small blisters on her right heel.
"It says nowhere [on the child's individual health plan, signed by the mother and given to the school] that you should check this little girl's body for signs and symptoms of herpes," Epstein said in court Wednesday.
She noted that other students in the district also have been diagnosed with herpes and asked school nurse Sonya Neal, "In your 14 years of being a [school] nurse, was there another student searched for herpes?"
Neal responded, "No."
The intimate searches took place in November 2012 after a teacher at Apison believed she contracted ocular herpes and it was speculated that the disease was spread through the student's tears.
Dr. Janara Huff, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Erlanger Health System who has treated the child since birth, testified Monday that the girl's herpes could not spread through tears, and was not contagious if covered by a sock and shoe, as it was every day at school.
A 2011 aerial view of Apison Elementary SchoolBut attorneys for Hamilton County Schools argued Neal acted on the limited information she had at the time from the mother, and on instructions given by Sheryl Rogers, Hamilton County Schools' director of health services, and the school system's medical consultant, Dr. Stephen Adams, a family practice practitioner at Erlanger.
Neal said Rogers told her to inspect the girl's body during routine diaper changes that Neal frequently witnessed throughout the school day. Neal said she conducted "body checks" during the diaper changes looking for a rash related to herpes, and that it was not a "search."
School system attorney Scott Bennett argued the only thing different in the November 2012 diaper changes and the countless others is that the school nurse recorded what she saw.
"It's not that I checked every inch of her body," Neal testified. " I checked the area of skin exposed in the diaper change."
Epstein argued this was still inappropriate, as Neal did not seek the mother's permission to inspect more than the child's lower extremities for a rash, as recorded on her health form.
Epstein said that for Neal to record what she saw on the child's genitals and under her shirt was inappropriate.
"Changing a diaper is one thing; inspecting someone's body is going too far," Epstein said. " The school system should have known how to take care of this situation."
Testimony is expected to conclude today and the jury will begin its deliberations.
Staff writer Evan Hoopfer contributed to this report.
Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.