Former employee suing elite Hillsborough school

[Guest guest]

Former employee suing elite Hillsborough school

Receptionist alleges Nueva fired her for reporting mold problem

San Mateo County Times - San Mateo,CA*

By Manekin, STAFF WRITER

Article Last Updated: 12/14/2007

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_7720635

REDWOOD CITY — A former receptionist at the Nueva School is suing

the elite Hillsborough private school for gifted and talented

children, saying she was illegally fired for alerting authorities to

mold allegedly responsible for the sickness of numerous students and

even death among its employees.

The mold has caused brain tumors, miscarriages and potentially fatal

diseases of all stripes, including breast cancer, prostate and colon

cancers, throat cancer and, in one case, a debilitating lung

disorder, the lawsuit states.

The wrongful-termination suit charged that Mildred Cruz, a 55-year-

old receptionist at the K-8 school, tried unsuccessfully in August

2005 to alert administrators to the allegedly massive harm the mold

was causing " innumerable employees, volunteers and students. "

Despite multiple conversations with administrators over a period of

months, the school first ignored her complaints, then merely

provided " Band-Aid fixes " without ever removing the mold entirely,

the lawsuit states.

Cruz resorted to approaching the state Occupational Safety and

Health Administrationin May 2006, some 10 months after she first

warned the school about the mold, according to the lawsuit. One

month later, Cruz was terminated, because her job was

being " restructure(d), " the lawsuit states.

" The reality of the situation is that people in the school are

getting sick, and the school tolerated it, " said plaintiff's

attorney, Joe Alioto Veronese. " Not only did they tolerate it, they

retaliated against my client when they should have acted immediately

to protect her co-workers and the children at the school. "

A spokesman for the Nueva School dismissed the charges and said the

lawsuit was " completely without merit.

" It's unfortunate we have to divert resources and attention from the

school's mission, which is to educate children, to fight this

irresponsible lawsuit, " spokesman Bill Halldin said. " Our No. 1

priority is providing a safe learning environment for our children. "

A defense attorney representing the Nueva School has denied every

allegation in the suit, said Halldin.

The school was fined $75 by OSHA in October 2005 for keeping one

building's furnace storerooms in unsanitary condition, records show.

That problem in the storeroom was, in fact, the presence of mold on

a 3-by-3-foot piece of wallboard, according to a newsletter the

school sent to parents shortly after the OSHA inspection.

Later that month, OSHA cited the school, warning administrators that

water damage in two other buildings has the " potential to cause the

growth of mold, " records show. The school was ordered to have the

areas professionally inspected and send the results to OSHA. Five

months later, OSHA sent the school a notice that the agency had not

received word back from the school and threatened to conduct its own

inspection. The school promptly replied with recent inspection

records indicating a " low mold spore count. "

" We think it's been our responsibility when we become aware of a

potential problem to address it and to continue monitoring that

there are no other issues — and that's what we did throughout this, "

said Halldin.

The school does not currently have any mold problems, and the campus

is " absolutely not " hazardous to the health of students and staff,

he added.

" We appreciate all the employees who brought this problem to our

attention so we could address it, " said Halldin.

According to Halldin, that also includes Cruz, the receptionist

filing the suit. Asked why the school fired Cruz, he replied

that " she was terminated because her position was eliminated. "

Cruz is seeking an unspecified amount of damages in the lawsuit,

charging that she suffered emotional distress because she was

allegedly fired in retaliation for " whistle-blowing " on the school's

mold issues.

According to Veronese, the mold that the school admits existed in a

storeroom and the potential threat for mold described in the OSHA

report " is really just the tip of the iceberg. " OSHA lacked the

resources to inspect the school thoroughly and uncover more mold, he

said.

In 2005, the potentially harmful mold also appeared in the school's

Environmental Center — the bottom of a mansion on campus housing

students in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten — and on the school's

upper campus, the lawsuit states. A thorough inspection would be

needed to ensure whether children at the school are safe today,

Veronese said.

In the past, the mold has caused students respiratory problems

requiring the use of a respirator, constant headaches and migraines,

bloody noses, allergies and asthma, according to the lawsuit.

But Halldin vigorously denied those allegations, saying " there's no

unusual pattern related to illness or respiratory problems " with the

children.

Veronese said: " This is something that is real in the air, and the

school should have acted quicker to address it. Instead, they

ostracized my client, they avoided her, they made her feel bad about

making the complaint and ultimately they terminated her for it.

" It's the ultimate failure of the school to act in the interest of

protecting the children. "

Staff writer Manekin can be reached at 650-348-4331 or by e-

mail at mmanekin@....