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School Helping Worried Parents, Students After HIV Scare

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School Helping Worried Parents, Students After HIV Scare

By Katie DeLong

SOUTH MILWAUKEE - A man is accused of having unprotected sex with students at South Milwaukee High School and not telling them he's HIV positive. Now, the school district says it is taking steps to help worried parents and students. TODAY’S TMJ4’s Heather Shannon talked to the superintendent Monday about what happened. The superintendent says he's gotten a few calls from concerned parents, and that some parents did keep their kids out of school Monday. Students at South Milwaukee High School say the threat of HIV is all people are talking about. "My lunch table talks about it a lot. Like, it's scary. You don't want to go to school thinking ‘does that girl have it? Does that girl have it?’” South Milwaukee Junior Meg Jeske said. Police confirm they are looking for an 18-year-old man who attended South Milwaukee High School. The man is accused of having sexual contact with two female classmates and not telling them he is HIV positive. Although the man hasn't been charged with the crime yet, students who know him are angry. "I thought it was ridiculous that he would do it without telling anybody that he had it, or like, warning them to use protection, and that he would just spread it like that knowing that he had it,” South Milwaukee Senior Michael Pierce said. The school district met with faculty about the issue. The school is not providing HIV tests or health counselors for students. Instead, they are referring concerned students and parents to the health department. "Our expectation is that we will report to the health department about communicative diseases and so forth and they will render the advice,” South Milwaukee Superintendent David Ewald said. TODAY’S TMJ4’s Heather Shannon was told by students that man no longer attends school at South Milwaukee High School.