Lawsuits: Students suffered injuries

Families claim poor classroom supervision in unrelated incidents

PLAINVILLE— In unrelated cases, the families of two middle school students are suing Plainville schools claiming dangerously poor classroom supervision.

One family charges that a teenaged boy partly cut off a finger while using a classroom bandsaw last year, and the other contends their daughter shattered her leg while doing a gymnastics move ordered by her teacher.

In lawsuits filed earlier this year, the families say the children suffered extensive pain as well as permanent injuries. They also face costly medical care in the future, the suits contend.

The school system is contesting both lawsuits. OnThursday, Superintendent Steven LePage said he could not comment because both cases are still pending.

In the first suit, Irek Brozstek says his son, Alex, was in a class with his teacher at the Middle School of Plainville on Sept. 24, 2019, when he tried to use a bandsaw in the classroom. His left index finger was partly amputated in an accident with the machine.

The lawsuit does not specify exactly what happened, but accuses the school system of negligence for having a bandsaw that students could use without direct supervision of a teacher. Such equipment should require a teacher’s key to operate, according to the suit filed by Milford attorney Edmund Q. Collier.

In a court document, the three defendants — the town, the school system and teacher Camille Westfall — argued that the boy’s injuries were due at least partly to his own negligence. He violated classroom rules by running a dangerous machine without first seeking a teacher’s help, and either knew or should have known he wasn’t skilled enough to use it, according to the filing by defense attorney Thomas R. Gerarde of Howd& Ludorf LLC.

In the second case, Diana Rivera, the mother of Alexis McCarty, says her daughter suffered a severe leg injury after falling while performing a gymnastics maneuver at a teacher’s direction. McCarty was 13 when she was hurt in gym class the Middle School of Plainville on Nov. 28, 2017, Rivera contends.

Teachers directed students in the class to vault by jumping on a springboard and then going over a pommel horse and landing on a mat, the suit says.

“Before trying this difficult gymnastics maneuver for the first time, Alexis McCarty expressed fear to her teacher and was told that if she did not try to do the maneuver, she would be given a grade of zero,” according to the suit filed by attorney John N. Montalbano of West Hartford.

McCarty fell whenshe landed on an unsecured mat that slid on the floor, the suit contends.

“She heard a loud crack and she collapsed onto the mat crying and screaming in excruciating pain, having sustained a fractured tibia and fibula in her leg,” the lawsuit said.

Both lawsuits are being handled at New Britain Superior Court.