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Another school board accused of fraud in mold suit (SMH).
Suit says Suffolk School Board knew of mold at school
Posted to: Education News Suffolk
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/06/suit-says-suffolk-school-board-knew-mold-school
By Hattie Brown Garrow
The Virginian-Pilot
© June 10, 2009
SUFFOLK
The School Board knew of long-standing moisture and mold issues at a city elementary school and didn't fix them, sickening a fourth-grade teacher and her students, according to a lawsuit filed this week.
Cristina Hood, a former teacher at Booker T. Washington Elementary School, suffered from allergic reactions, respiratory problems and severe skin rashes after being exposed to excessive levels of mold and bacteria, the complaint says.
The 39-page lawsuit, filed Monday in Suffolk Circuit Court, accuses the board of fraud, intentional misconduct and deliberately hiding the mold problem. Hood, who now works for another local school division, is seeking $600,000.
School division spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw said the lawsuit had not yet been served as of late Tuesday afternoon and declined to comment. School Board chairwoman Lorraine Skeeter did not return a call made to her cell phone around 5 p.m. Tuesday.
A similar complaint was filed on Hood's behalf more than a year ago. That one named the city of Suffolk as the defendant and was dropped less than a month later because the city doesn't own or maintain the school.
Booker T. Washington Elementary "has a history of construction, neglect, water leaks, and lack of maintenance attention," according to the new lawsuit.
A 2003 independent study found excessive levels of two kinds of mold in the school building, including in classrooms and on furniture. Another report from 2007 showed high levels of moisture in the floor slab.
"The School Board has known about this for a long time. They did nothing," said Hood's attorney David Bailey, who specializes in environmental law.
In her complaint, Hood said she was not told of a mold or moisture problem in June 2007 when she signed on to teach 25 students. When she reported for work, the first-year teacher immediately noticed high humidity in the school. Papers and books left over from the previous term were "soggy, curling and felt wilted to the touch."
Hood soon developed a facial rash, irritated eyes and other symptoms that persisted despite medication, according to the complaint.
"At all times, the School Board knew of the increasing health problems of Plaintiff," the lawsuit says. Also, about a third of Hood's students had allergies, headaches, runny noses, stomach issues and watery eyes, the claim says.
According to the Suffolk Public Schools Web site, Booker T. Washington Elementary was built in 1953 and went through "major renovations" in 1999.
In sworn depositions regarding Hood's workers' compensation claim, longtime maintenance employees said they had witnessed flooding in the school during heavy rainstorms. Also, school officials said as many as 18 dehumidifiers - "many supplied by the School Board itself" - were in use throughout the building during the 2007-08 school year.
Hattie Brown Garrow, (757) 222-5562,
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Comment:
by SchoolMoldHelp
The Suffolk School Board should visit www.schoolmoldhelp.org to review over 1750 articles about school mold prevention and solutions - damp, moldy schools impact health in very serious ways. We think more school districts should make it a priority to have their schools be healthy places to teach and learn in. The teachers in this school, and parents with children there, will benefit from our Information - Sick Building Symptoms section, with hundreds of articles from authoritative sources. We hope the school gets torn down or fixed (if possible, sounds doubtful). Remediate, don't renovate. Read our Remediation pages for info on that area. Till then, keep it closed!
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