The Butler Area School District has agreed to pay up to a $600 settlement to each of the 215 plaintiffs in class-action suit against the district for allowing Summit Elementary School students to drink water contaminated with lead and copper in 2016 and 2017.

The lawsuit filed was in August 2018 by Kristy Kromer, Melissa Kline, Tanya Cloutier and Donna Hope on behalf of their children, who were students at the school, and later became a class-action suit. It was settled Tuesday, July 18, at a hearing before Common Pleas Court President Judge S. Michael Yeager.

The plaintiffs could not be reached for comment, but district superintendent Brian White said the district is glad the matter has been settled.

“We’re happy the case has been resolved, as this was a challenging time for everyone involved,” said White, who was not employed by the district when the water issue came to light.

He said each plaintiff will receive up to $600 from the district’s insurance provider, and no tax dollars will be spent on the settlement.

“Each of 215 kids who were attending Summit at the time are entitled to up to $600,” said district solicitor Tom King.

The district’s insurer will allocate $215,000 for the settlement, and any money left over will be given to the district for Summit Elementary’s agriculture education program, he said.

Each plaintiffs will receive information in the mail about how to file a claim for the settlement money, he said.

“Not a penny of Butler Area School District money is being spent on this,” King said. ‘It’s good to get it resolved and get it behind us.”

Students drank toxic water containing high levels of lead and copper from Aug. 15, 2016, to Jan. 20, 2017, when the district sent letters to parents to inform them about the water, according to the suit.

Before the 2016-17 school year, the district installed a chlorinator to add chlorine to the school’s potable water system to purify the water, but the chlorinator was not properly operated, according to the suit.

As a result, excessive concentrations of chlorine accelerated corrosion of the water system, creating a slow and continuous movement of lead and copper into the system.

On Aug. 15, 2016, lab test results revealed lead and copper levels that were far in excess of safe water standards, but the defendants did not warn students or fix the problem, according to the suit. Repairs eventually were made.

The students suffered damage to their central nervous systems, physical injuries, mental anguish and distress, and their families spent money on testing and treatment, according to the suit.

Along with the district, former superintendent Dale Lumley, former assistant superintendent Mary Wolf and former maintenance director Glenn Terwilliger also were named as defendants. Lumley and Wolf were dismissed as defendants.

Terwilliger, who was included in the settlement, was certified by the state Department of Environmental Protection as a water operator for the district and a 35-year district employee.

He faced criminal charges from the county District Attorney’s office for not reporting the lab test results. To resolve the case, Terwilliger was accepted into the accelerated rehabilitative disposition program. He could not be reached for comment.