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School water lawsuit refiled

Copper, lead initially went unreported

A lawsuit against Butler School District that was dismissed by a federal judge in June, at the request of the plaintiff's attorneys, was refiled Tuesday in Butler County court.

The lawsuit, which is intended as a class-action case, was filed on behalf of Butler residents Kristy Kromer, Melissa Kline, Tanya Cloutier and Donna Hope. All have children who attended Summit Elementary School in 2016 and 2017, during a crisis related to lead and copper levels in the building's water supply.

The lawsuit, which seeks to represent about 250 people, alleges negligence on behalf of the district and several named defendants — former district Superintendent Dale Lumley, former Assistant Superintended Mary Wolf, and former maintenance director Glenn Terwilliger — over how the public was notified about tests in late 2016 that showed higher-than-acceptable levels of lead and copper in the school's water supply.

Samples taken from the school on Aug. 15, 2016, showed unsafe levels of both metals in the water, but parents were not notified by the district until Jan. 20, and the building's water supply remained in use until then.

The district's delayed response to the tests is the basis of the suit, which claims that officials ignored the test results and “made a conscious and intentional decision not to warn the students of this dangerous condition or take any appropriate steps to fix the dangerous condition ... .”

The suit also alleges that the district officials deleted emails that showed their knowledge and understanding of the water's “poisonous” levels of lead and copper, lied under oath about their knowledge and understanding of copper and lead levels in the water, and took steps to cover up their “knowledge, understanding, and/or involvement in the failure of (the district) to disclose, warn and/or correct the dangerous condition known to them ... .”

In the suit, plaintiffs claim the district's negligence in alerting parents and students to the lead levels resulted in exposure that “will require additional medical care and/or treatment(s) in the future,” as well as “caused extreme mental and emotional anguish and distress, causing severe depression, nightmares, stress, and/or anxiety, some or all of which have or may require psychological treatment.”

The suit seeks damages “in a sum which exceeds the compulsory arbitration limits of this County,” as well as court costs and interests.

Additionally, the suit asks that the district be required to pay for biannual blood testing and physician visits for the next three years, and that a fund be created to help families cover the cost and expenses associated with checkups and treatment associated with any conditions related to the school's water.

Lumley, Wolf and Terwilliger are no longer with the district. Each resigned in February 2017, in the wake of the scandal.

That same month, an independent investigator tasked with looking into the district's response to the water contamination acknowledged that he had expanded his inquiry to include “several incidents of alleged employees' misconduct.” That included “failure to perform their respective job responsibilities; their alleged unauthorized access to the District's email system ... retrieval and removal of emails ... and, their alleged making of false statements under oath and during the investigation.”

At the request of Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger, who cited an ongoing criminal investigation, the investigation's findings were never released. District officials, however, confirmed in a statement that its findings played a part in the resignations of Lumley, Wolf and Terwilliger.

District solicitor Tom King on Friday declined to comment on the suit.

Attorney Brenden Lupetin, who filed the suit, did not return a message left seeking comment.

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