Reformed Heroin Addict Mom Barred From Volunteering at Daughter's School

Aug. 25, 2010 -- When Jessica Gianfrocco's daughter started kindergarten at the Arlington Elementary School in Cranston, R.I., last September, Giainfrocco looked forward to becoming a school volunteer.

"There was an open house, and someone from the parent teacher group spoke up and said kids do better if parents volunteer. She urged us to do it," said Gianfrocco, who had already served as a "team mom" for her daughter's cheerleading team and had volunteered at her preschool for three years.

But volunteering at the elementary school was not to be. Gianfrocco's application was rejected.

A background criminal investigation, required as part of a new policy the Cranston School Department adopted in June 2009 for volunteers, revealed Gianfrocco had two felony convictions for drug possession, from when she was in her early 20s, before her daughter was born.

"I did have a problem with heroin," Gianfrocco told ABCNews.com, "but I've been clean for six years."

Gianfrocco sought professional help for her heroin addiction and still participates in a 12-step program, but school district policy barred her from volunteering at school events that involved children.

The Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union took up Gianfrocco's case Monday, filing a lawsuit in Rhode Island Superior Court against the Cranston School Department, charging that its volunteer policy violated Gianfrocco's equal protection rights and various state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. Drug addiction is considered a disability.

"We think [the case] raises very important civil liberties issues," Steven Brown, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Rhode Island affiliate, told ABCNews.com.

"It covers a bunch of important themes that concern us, one is the ability of ex-offenders to be able to integrate into society," he said.

"Jessica is a perfect example of someone who ran into troubles when when she was young and turned her life around completely and yet still finds herself being punished and stigmatized because of that past."