2 students get $1M for HS injuries

Two students traumatized by a horrifically botched classroom science experiment in 2014 have received over $1 million from the city.

Former Beacon High School student Julia Saltonstall received a $750,000 settlement. Her classmate Sara Salitan received $400,000, documents filed in Manhattan Supreme Court show. The deals were made official Monday, which was to be the first day of a trial over their injuries.

Saltonstall suffered burns on her forearms, including a third-degree burn on her right arm, when teacher Anna Poole screwed up the chemistry “rainbow experiment.” She’d since coped with emotional trauma. Salitan’s injuries were “purely emotional and psychological in nature, including posttraumatic stress disorder and depression,” according to a recent filing in the case.

Messages for Saltonstall’s and Salitan’s attorneys were not returned.

The student at the elite Upper West Side high school who got the worst of the fireball, Alonzo Yanes, is still pursuing claims against the city for up to $27 million. He suffered burns to 31% of his body, including on his face, as well as extensive scarring, according to court papers.

“The well-being of students is our top priority, and this experiment is no longer used in the classroom. This settlement was in the best interest of the city and [the Department of Education],” a Law Department spokesman said.

The rainbow experiment was designed to show students how different mineral salts produce multicolored flames when burned. On Jan. 2, 2014, Poole poured methanol from a one-gallon bottle into hot Petri dishes containing nitrates that had been on fire only moments earlier. The chemical cocktail created a blazing ribbon that flew across the table where Poole’s students were gathered, engulfing Yanes.

“Oh my God, I set a kid on fire,” Poole exclaimed, according to an Education Department report released five months after the disaster.

Poole could not be reached for comment.