Nigerian Dad sues US school after Daughter is banned over Ebola fears

A Nigerian father (pictured above) has sued a school in the US, Connecticut elementary school, saying his 7-year-old daughter was discriminated against and
banned from school for 21 days based on irrational fears of Ebola because she attended a wedding in Nigeria. Is the school this uninformed to know that Ebola no longer exist in Nigeria.

From Reuters
Stephen Opayemi filed the lawsuit in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut. He asked a judge to order the schools in Milford, Connecticut, to immediately permit his daughter to return to her
third-grade class.

Opayemi’s daughter has not experienced any symptoms associated with Ebola and her health is fine, but parents and teachers were concerned she could transmit Ebola to other children, the lawsuit says.

“We’re hoping this will get her back into school as soon as possible,” the girl’s mother, Ikeolapo Opayemi, said in a brief interview at their home.

Although the mother declined to discuss details of the lawsuit, citing the advice of the family’s attorney, she said they had lived in Milford for more than six years. Asked if she was surprised by the school system’s actions, she nodded in agreement.

Nigeria had 20 Ebola cases and eight deaths this year before the World Health Organization declared the country Ebola-free on Oct. 19. The epidemic is centered in three other West African countries, where about 5,000 people have died: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Connecticut third-grader, Ikeoluwa Opayemi, traveled to and from Lagos, Nigeria, between Oct. 2 and Oct. 13, according to the lawsuit. Her father,
a native of Nigeria, also went. Jonathan Berchem, the Milford city attorney, said
he had not seen the suit and could not comment on it. Elizabeth Feser, the school superintendent, did not return a call requesting comment but said in an email she had not been served with the suit.

African communities in the United States have reported an increasing amount of ostracism since the Ebola epidemic began. At least two speeches by Liberians have been canceled by U.S.
universities, and a college in Texas refused admission to Nigerian students over worries about the virus.

A neighbor of the Opayemi family, Prashant Batil, said his 6-year-old plays often with Ikeoluwa and that he believed the school system was overreacting.

“The parents are extremely responsible people, and if they say she does not have Ebola, I would have no reluctance for my daughter to play with her,” Batil said in an interview.

Opayemi’s suit was filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The law prohibits discrimination based on someone having a physical or mental
impairment, or on the belief that someone has such an impairment.

Milford officials refused the father’s offer to have both himself and his daughter screened for Ebola, the suit says. According to the suit, a city health official said in an Oct. 15 meeting that the risk of the girl infecting anyone was minor but that she ought to be quarantined because of rumors, panic and the climate of the school.

City and school officials told Ikeoluwa not to return to school until Nov. 3, the suit says. The case is Ikeoluwa Opayemi v. Milford Public Schools and City of Milford, U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, No. 3:14-cv-01597.

Source: Reuters

WoW ! It’s HerexG

WoW ! Connecticut becomes first state to pass $10.10 minimum wage

Connecticut
Governor Dannel Malloy on Thursday signed into law a
measure that will phase in the highest minimum
wage of any U.S. state, in line with a push by
Democrats nationwide to raise the entry-level wage.
The bill, which was approved by state legislators a day
earlier, will raise the state’s minimum hourly rate to
$10.10, a figure that matches what U.S. President
Barack Obama has asked Congress to consider
imposing nationally.
Malloy signed the legislation on Thursday evening in
the same New Britain diner where he appeared earlier
this month with Obama and three other New England
governors: Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Peter
Shumlin of Vermont and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode
Island. All are Democrats who have pushed to raise
the minimum wage in their states.
New Britain, located in the center of the state, has
been hard hit by the economic downtown with the
household median income at about $35,000,
compared with the statewide median of
$66,000.
“This is just a step in moving people in the right
direction,” Malloy said in signing the bill. “We will be
lifting people out of poverty in the state of
Connecticut. Increasing the minimum wage is not just
good for workers, it’s also good for business,” he
added.
Connecticut’s Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey,
also a Democrat, said: “Raising the minimum wage
helps people who need it most, is good for the
economy and is the right thing to do.”
State House Republican spokesman Patrick O’Neil said
his party opposed the measure because it does not
believe the bill will help create jobs in a state with an
unemployment rate of 7.2 percent, above the national
average.
“This is just politics in an election year and isn’t going
to lift anyone out of poverty,” O’Neil said.
“In Bridgeport, the state’s largest city, there is a 50
percent unemployment rate among teens ages 16-19.
If they can’t get a job at $8.70 an hour, what will it be
like when the rate goes up?” he said. “This is just
going to cause employers who create jobs in the state
to hire even fewer people.”
Obama’s call for a higher national minimum wage has
failed to win the backing of the Republican-controlled
U.S. House of Representatives.
The Congressional Budget Office said in a report
released last month that raising the minimum wage
to $10.10 an hour nationally would reduce total
employment by some 500,000 workers.
Connecticut’s minimum wage currently stands at
$8.70 per hour, and the bill will be phased in to
$10.10 over three years. The current highest state
minimum wage in the United States is Washington’s
$9.32, above the $7.25 federal minimum.
Malloy is up for re-election this year and state
Republicans have called the measure a politically
influenced move.

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