Post by Logan on Apr 24, 2016 3:35:11 GMT -6
Case of the moldy classroom: District owes sick teacher $1.8M, judge rules
MILLBURN — A New Jersey music teacher was awarded an approximately $1.8 million verdict after a judge ruled that her asthma and other chronic lung problems were caused by a mold issue in her classroom.
According to a written decision, Essex County Superior Court Judge Christine Farrington ruled Monday that the Millburn Board of Education owed music teacher Mary Jean Alsina the nearly $2 million for medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages.
Alsina, a tenured teacher in Millburn, filed suit against the district in 2013 after she said she was exposed to mold while working in a specific room in the middle school. According to the decision, Alsina argued that she had complained about a musty smell in the room, dripping water from the ceiling, stains and seepage on the walls, and what she believed to be mold growing in the room. Though she argued that the district tested the room and that the school's custodial staff cleaned up the area, Alsina said she did not feel that they adequately addressed the problem, the decision states.
Alsina was diagnosed with adult onset asthma and other lung conditions, which she and her doctor attributed to the conditions in the classroom, the decision says. She reduced her position at the school from full- to part-time to tend to her medical issues, and as a way to avoid teaching in that classroom, it says.
Read more: www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2016/04/teacher_awarded_18m_in_moldy_classroom_suit.html
MILLBURN — A New Jersey music teacher was awarded an approximately $1.8 million verdict after a judge ruled that her asthma and other chronic lung problems were caused by a mold issue in her classroom.
According to a written decision, Essex County Superior Court Judge Christine Farrington ruled Monday that the Millburn Board of Education owed music teacher Mary Jean Alsina the nearly $2 million for medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages.
Alsina, a tenured teacher in Millburn, filed suit against the district in 2013 after she said she was exposed to mold while working in a specific room in the middle school. According to the decision, Alsina argued that she had complained about a musty smell in the room, dripping water from the ceiling, stains and seepage on the walls, and what she believed to be mold growing in the room. Though she argued that the district tested the room and that the school's custodial staff cleaned up the area, Alsina said she did not feel that they adequately addressed the problem, the decision states.
Alsina was diagnosed with adult onset asthma and other lung conditions, which she and her doctor attributed to the conditions in the classroom, the decision says. She reduced her position at the school from full- to part-time to tend to her medical issues, and as a way to avoid teaching in that classroom, it says.
Read more: www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2016/04/teacher_awarded_18m_in_moldy_classroom_suit.html