Lawsuit says South Carolina district failed to deal with toxic mold in school building
A lawsuit contends that a South Carolina school district knew about toxic mold in some of its buildings, but covered it up and allowed students and teachers to get sick.
WBTW-TV reports that the lawsuit is the second filed in recent weeks against the Horry County system.
Mary Burroughs, who was a teacher from 2016 to 2019 at St. James Elementary School in Myrtle Beach, asserts in the lawsuit that she began experiencing symptoms, including severe headaches, congestion, memory loss, and nerve issues with her hands. An allergy test revealed mold exposure.
Burroughs repeatedly reported the smell of mildew and mold in her modular classroom, she says. Tests showed “toxic mold levels” in “numerous” Horry County schools, according to the lawsuit.
After the district hired a mold remediation company in fall 2018, Burroughs returned to a classroom that was full of dust and mold, the lawsuit says. She claims the principal told her to “just wipe off the mold and dust with Clorox and a towel.”
She and “numerous students” immediately got sick, the suit contends.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of a St. James student in November said the district hired a remediation company only after years of neglect, and the company wasn’t qualified to do the work, so a second company had to come in.
Burroughs’ lawsuit assets that the district “intentionally and maliciously covered up the water and mold issues."
