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Student, staff
lawsuits target mold in schools
By Jamie
Malernee
Education Writer, Sun
Sentinel
September 20, 2003
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.
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School officials say most of those recommendations have already been met
voluntarily.
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