Congratulations to carpenter Dennis Brown for his courageous efforts to expose unhealthy conditions at the Broward County School District in Florida. Brown raised concerns about the atrocious environment he was forced to work in. A mildew infested classroom made his asthma worse. He brought in notes from his doctor confirming the health effects, but officials never transferred him to a safer facility. Brown’s attempts to expose this danger fell on deaf ears, “I’ve gone to the superintendent and all the school board members, but they look the other way,” Brown said. EBossWatch reports that a jury has now determined that school officials must pay $210,000 to compensate Brown for the retaliation he suffered. Perhaps those jurors could relate to the parents who might wish that school carpenters, and students, have nothing but safe places in public schools.
Intern Quinn McCall contributed to this blog entry.