Student, staff lawsuits target mold in schools
Jamie Malernee, Education Writer
Posted: September 20, 2003 Sun-Sentinel.com
After years of watching her son suffer from severe symptoms --
vomiting in class and at home, having to endure 78 allergy injections,
22 prescribed medications, CAT scans and two surgeries to drain his
sinuses -- Cara Aliseo finally pulled him out of his mold-plagued
elementary school.
He's been healthy ever since, she said.
On Friday, Aliseo spoke out about the mold problems as one of 18
parties to file lawsuits against the Broward County School District.
Filed on behalf of 13 students and seven employees, the lawsuits
allege Riverside and Indian Trace elementary schools were more than
just petri dishes for the "black snow" and sludge that grew inside
walls and blew through the air conditioning systems.
They allege the Coral Springs and Weston schools were not only
defectively built and maintained, but that officials ignored the
problems for years and, when they were finally forced to fix things,
remediation efforts were shoddy and in some cases made things worse.
"I was told the School Board would not keep children in a place that
was not safe," Aliseo recalls when she first began to question the
connection between her son's symptoms and Riverside. "But since the
day he left, he has not taken a single antibiotic."
Lawyers for Aliseo and other parents say the 18 lawsuits filed in
Broward Circuit Court are only the "first wave" of mold litigation to
hit the district following a scathing grand jury report released in
May.
The report renounced the district's handling of mold issues and all
but invited parents and workers to seek damages for their exposure and
concurrent health problems, which include nose bleeds, respiratory
infections, rashes, chronic cough and lost sense of taste.
Also named in the suit are Superintendent Frank Till and the School
Board, as well as architects, engineers, roofers, contractors, mold
remediation experts and clean-up workers associated with the schools.
"Each day that goes by, we receive additional phone calls. We suspect
this is a Broward County-wide problem ..." said Boca Raton attorney
Scott Gelfand.
School district spokesman Joe Donzelli said new administrators have
put better procedures in place to address concerns, have revamped
Riverside Elementary, and are investing millions of dollars to
properly clean other campuses.
In addition to seeking "major monetary damages" for pain and
suffering, medical expenses and future medical monitoring, the
lawsuits ask for an injunction against the school district, requiring
it to meet all 31 improvement recommendations listed in the scathing
grand jury report.
School officials say most of those recommendations have already been
met voluntarily.
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