Chicago- Mononucleosis, the class was told, is a disease that “whores” get.
Former students at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School say that was part of a lesson given by a teacher who disclosed a student’s case of mono and explained it was spread by “sexually active girls.”
Now, the target of those comments — 2004 graduate Rebecca Alvarado — has filed suit against two teachers, the dean and principal at the all-girls Chicago Catholic school, claiming her privacy was violated and her reputation damaged.
The lawsuit, recently filed in Cook County Circuit Court, seeks in excess of $450,000.
Alvarado claims English teacher Judy Neary drove rumors that Alvarado had a disease “whores” get. She also names math teacher Nancy Vandertuuk and dean Carolyn McGovern in her complaint.
Alvarado, who was hospitalized in March 2004 and missed a month of school because of mononucleosis, hepatitis, jaundice and dehydration, provided student affidavits claiming teachers drove rumors of her illness. She said she doesn’t know how she got mono.
“People were saying I was a slut because of this,” Alvarado said. “Everyone was staring at me like I was a freak. And when I was walking in the hallway, they’d point at me and laugh or say ‘There she is. That’s her.’ It was terrible.”
Sister Rose Wiorek, Mother McAuley’s principal, said she wasn’t aware of anybody on her staff discussing Alvarado’s illness with students. John Coleman, an attorney representing the school, said, “We’ll contest this in every fashion.”
Alvarado’s mother, Maricela Herrada, said she called McGovern to explain her daughter’s illness.
An hour later, the suit says, Vandertuuk asked a class to pray for Alvarado, describing her illness and where she was hospitalized.
An hour after that, the suit said, Neary led a class discussion about Alvarado, telling them the “number one” group to get mononucleosis was “sexually active girls.”
When a student asked if “whores” get that disease, the lawsuit claims that Neary replied, “Yes.”
More classes heard the same lecture from Neary, it says, including a discussion about whom Alvarado was friends with and sleeping with.
“Students from several grades were now discussing and gossiping about Rebecca,” the lawsuit says, “claiming she was easy, sleeping around, a slut, and were writing in bathroom stalls that she possessed sexually transmitted diseases.”
Herrada said it had a negative impact on her daughter’s grades and confidence, breaking down as she said, “What they did was wrong.”
“To make a student feel like she’s a whore? That she has no values?” she asked. “No one should have to go through what she did.”