Yesterday afternoon, Ivelisse Correa, Vice-President of BLM’s Hartford Chapter and CEO of Good Trouble Advocacy, joined two lawyers in front of John C. Clark Elementary School in Hartford to announce their intent to file a class-action lawsuit in pursuit of compensation for students, staff and administrators who have suffered health complications as a result of toxic PCB exposure while teaching or learning at several Hartford schools.
“We’re holding this today because we want people to get screened,” said Correa, visibly distraught and fighting tears as she recounted her own experiences with people impacted by PCBs. “I went to middle school with a girl who went to Clark, she died of breast cancer ten years ago. One of my friends died in high school. So some people died not knowing that they needed regular screening.”
“It’s not just about the class-action lawsuit, yeah, these people need justice, these people need compensation,” said Correa. “But they need to be warned, ‘Hey, this is part of your medical history.’ I don’t want anyone else to die right?”
Correa was joined by Bloomfield-based lawyer Aaron Romano and Luke Kist, Chief Marketing Officer of Whistleblowers International, a large DC-based law firm that focuses on corporate misconduct. Romano said that he and Kist have been at work investigating a link between health complications and those who have attended Clark, Annie Fisher Magnet School, Kinsella Magnet School, Mary Hooker Magnet School, and Batchelder School. Martin Luther King Jr. School and Hartford High have also tested positive in the past, and other schools constructed around the same time likely contain these toxins as well.
“The number of people exposed may run into the tens of thousands,” said Romano. “We’ve identified multiple people who have contracted cancer, some of whom have died as a result of their illnesses.”
PCBs, which stand for polychlorinated biphenyls, are a group of synthetic chemicals widely used from 1950 to 1979 for the manufacture of consumer and industrial goods. The chemicals aerosolize over time and are now known to be extremely hazardous to humans. Those exposed to PCBs have a significantly higher risk of various forms of cancer, liver and thyroid problems, hormonal imbalances, immune diseases and neurological disorders. Exposure in parents can also lead to birth and developmental complications in children.
Correa said that the issue first came to her attention several years ago, when an ex-boyfriend, who had just finished his own battle with cancer, and an old podcast co-host attended the funeral of a mutual friend who had died of cancer. It spurred a conversation in which the two started listing off names of people they went to school with who had died of cancer, which immediately caught Correa’s attention. Making matters even more concerning, was the fact that her ex went to Annie Fisher School as a child, while her co-host had gone to Simpson-Waverly School.
“I’m like, this seems really odd, right?,” said Correa. “Why is it that people from certain elementary schools have higher rates of cancer than other elementary schools?”
Correa said the three then began to search for answers and upon comparing notes, noticed that the schools with wood floors had lower cancer rates, while those who went to schools with tiled floors had higher cancer rates. Correa then started to tie these tiled schools to people in her own life who had battled cancer and other health problems.
“So Batchelder School would be my uncle, who had colon cancer, my dad who had liver problems, my uncle who has cancer and liver problems, my step-sister who’s currently battling breast cancer at the age of – she’s 36, 37,” said Correa. “Kinsella, my step-mom went there and she’s had thyroid problems most of her life and she has liver problems now. My kids almost lost their dad, he’s lost friends. Recently, when I got in touch with people that he went to elementary school with, sadly enough, a couple of them died with GoFundMe’s for their medical bills.”
She also noted several former staff members who have battled cancer in the past, such as former Kinsella principal, Pamela Totten-Alvarado, as well as a former principal of Annie Fisher.
“There’s way too many obituaries from former staff,” said Correa.
It was around the time Correa noticed that pattern that she began searching for a lawyer, and reached out to Kist, who she has worked with on advocacy initiatives in the past. Kist then contacted Romano and asked him to be the case’s local council. All three have had a history of working together on advocacy issues.
Romano and Kist explained that the suit has not been filed yet, as they are still in the preliminary phase of researching at-risk schools, reaching out to those who may have been affected, and deciding which defendants ought to be named in the suit. Correa said that the group plans to hold informational meetings as soon as October, at which concerned residents will be educated on PCBs, shown how to get doctor’s notes for proper health screenings and sign onto the class-action lawsuit if they are suffering from related complications already. Correa noted that the dates and locations of these meetings will be released in the near future.
“We’re hoping to spread awareness because people have died,” said Correa. “Had they had proper warning years ago, when the City of Hartford first even filed their lawsuit, people would have been more proactive in their cancer screening.”
Kist described Clark, which was closed by the City of Hartford in 2015, as a “time capsule,” due to the ongoing legal battle between the City of Hartford and chemical manufacturer Monsanto. The suit, which was originally filed by Hartford in 2015, will decide who is held financially responsible for renovating the school, which has since fallen into a state of visible disrepair. Many schools constructed during the same period as those which tested positive and are likely to have tested positive themselves, have since been renovated by the district, rendering testing impossible.
“Something that really disturbs me is when this first came to light, the superintendent stated that there was no testing mandate,” said Correa. “These are children that we’re talking about, and educators. Educators dedicate their lives to educating the next generation, and children are innocent. It’s not fair to anyone who stepped through these doors at all, that just because you were here… you may die because of that.”
Carol Gale, President of the Hartford Teachers Association, who was also present and in support, said that several teachers reached out to superintendent Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez in 2019 to voice their concerns and asked for testing, but were met with little help.
“Many of my members are people who have worked in the schools Ivelisse named, and we’re certainly aware that, though we can’t make a direct correlation, we know of people who have had cancers,” said Gale.
When asked whether the City of Hartford would be named as a defendant in the suit, the group offered no comment. Correa said that she had made city council members and Mayor Arunan Arulampalam aware of the day’s conference, and was hoping they would show out in support, but evidently none were present.
“What bothers me is that this is now three administrations,” said Correa, who explained that the exposure first made headlines under former mayor Pedro Segarra. “We’ve tried to reach out to this administration, and [say] ‘You know it’s you’re constituents that are dying, even your employees.’”
Correa acknowledged that while she understood City officials may be hesitant to show face as they don’t yet know which direction the blame will be pointed in this particular suit, she said, “It’s a new administration, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t want to stand with victims of chemical exposure. It’s not your fault, so let’s not worry about playing hot potato with people’s lives.”
Kist said that he and Romano looked into Clark’s history and discovered that a third-party sprinkler company was the first to detect the PCB’s, which caused the city to promptly shut it down in 2015. Kist said that at the time of the school’s closing it was too early to file such a suit, but now that several years have passed since the PCBs were confirmed, every case of former students and staff with health complications can be tied to their time spent at the school. Kist said that the group was going to fight to “make sure that those who are injured get the compensation they deserve,” and that the issue has flown under the radar because of the income level of those affected.
“A lot of this gets pushed under the rug and ignored because the people, financially, are not wealthy,” said Kist. “If this was in West Hartford or any of the big name schools it’d be blasted out everywhere.”
Correa also noted the difficulties of many people she knows that have tried to get proper screening, and shared her hope that now that a proper link has been established, doctors would not be so quick to deny patients the screenings they need.
“The overwhelming majority of people who stepped through these doors are black and brown, and they’re the same ones who have been facing barriers when asking for screening, which really bothered me,” said Correa. The three urged anybody who thinks they may have been exposed to PCBs, which would be anyone who went to a Hartford school constructed or renovated between 1950-1979, to sign-on to the suit, either by going to pcbclaims.com or calling 203-872-2394.
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