Imagine having to make the heart-wrenching choice between your child’s health and his education.
For the parents of students enrolled at P.S. 256’s special needs annex in Belle Harbor, which serves children with emotional challenges and autism, this is a daily decision.
They – along with teachers and paraprofessionals – claim that for the last decade the school has been at the location, everyone has been exposed to mold, lead paint and asbestos.
The walls are crumbling around the students, they say.
And just this past winter, according to a lawyer, the students and staff were forced to wear their jackets inside, as the temperature in the building was 50°.
Multiple complaints have been filed, they claim.
“It’s reprehensible,” said attorney Ralph DeSimone, founder and senior partner of DeSimone, Aviles, Shorter & Oxamendi, LLP., who has filed a notice of claim against the Department of Education (DOE). “If you are going to victimize people, you picked the right group.”
When contacted, Margie Feinberg, DOE spokesperson, said, “We can not comment on active litigation.”
DeSimone explained that the DOE purchased the school property just last year from Temple Beth El. The person who answered the phone for the temple told The Courier he had “no comment.”
DeSimone said he plans to sue the temple as well at a later date.
The lawsuit, he said, is to accomplish the following:
•An inspection of the school by an independent third party.
•Medical exams of all teachers, staff and students.
•Immediate repairs to the school’s infrastructure.
•Immediate removal of the cell phone towers on school premises.
•Immediate removal of mold, asbestos and lead paint.
•Accommodations for staff and students to continue classes.
•Medical care for staff/students with injuries sustained from exposure from the school.
•Notifications to all students and staff past and present of inspection findings.
“It’s my understanding that the school shut down for two weeks in August of this past year to do some remedial repairs,” said DeSimone, who told The Courier that he will be filing a motion to expedite the process.
But that’s not enough, he said, to rectify the situation.
“I believe the constitutional rights of these children have been violated,” he continued. “You’re setting these kids back years.”
DeSimone’s chief concerns are finding out what, if any, medical damages have been suffered, and getting the school fixed.
“We really want this to be transparent,” said the attorney.
The dollar amount of the lawsuit, he said, is up to a jury and contingent on the extent of the damages.
“We won’t know until years later maybe,” said Albert Hiller Jr., whose son, eight-year-old James, he said, has already had a recurring bad rash of his arms and back.
James, diagnosed with high-functioning autism, has been in the school for two years.
To make matters worse, Hiller, a single parent who sits on the Leadership Board for District 75 and is the president of the Parents’ Association for P.S. 256, is himself in a wheelchair.
The school is not handicapped-accessible, he said, so he had no idea at first of the alleged conditions inside the facility.
Since he only receives one Social Security Insurance (SSI) check per month, private school is not an option for James.
In the meantime, classes are still in session.
“I need him to be educated, I want a better life for him,” said Hiller, who continued, “The parents and teachers are so wonderful. I’m so sorry they have to be in there too.”
