STUY HS SHOCK
A disturbing number of faculty members at Stuyvesant HS have died of cancer in the 16 years since 9/11 — because of exposure to toxins from Ground Zero, a retired teacher at the elite Battery Park City school claimed Friday.
“I worked at Stuyvesant from 1984 to 2002. Of a faculty of 135, 25 have died of cancer within 10 years,” said Gary Brandwein, 77, citing an unconfirmed tally. “Mostly women, with breast and ovarian cancer, two men with brain cancer and several with melanoma.”
Brandwein retired in June 2002 after suffering from arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, and later survived a stroke.
“This is a lifetime grievance for me,” he said, responding to a Post story about how at least a dozen young adults who went to school near the World Trade Center have battled 9/11-related cancers and lung diseases.
“The school should never have been reopened four weeks later. The whole World Trade Center was disassembled and brought to barges 150 yards from the school.
“Everyone wanted to be a patriot,” Brandwein added.
He said that one chemistry teacher died of brain cancer in the wake of the terror attacks, and that Richard Geller, a math teacher for 29 years, died of skin cancer in November 2011. Teachers under age 55 have died of breast and ovarian cancers, he added.
An article from Stuyvesant’s student newspaper in fall 2001 said environmental engineers tested the air inside the building and deemed it safe in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
But in June 2002, the Board of Education agreed to clean out the ventilation system at Stuyvesant after finding concentrations of lead that were 30 times higher than federal limits.
On Thursday, lawyer Michael Barasch said he’s representing 12 graduates and nearly a dozen teachers of schools near Ground Zero who have cancer or lung diseases and who have sought medical coverage through the World Trade Center Health Program.
Maria Sanabria, 53, worked as a paraprofessional at the Leadership and Public Service HS, blocks from the WTC, between 1993 and 2011.
Her thyroid was removed this year after she was diagnosed with cancer, but Sanabria said she started experiencing symptoms right after 9/11, when she began getting a burning sensation in her throat that wouldn’t go away.
Yet the city is only monitoring the health of grads already enrolled in the WTC health program, according to Kimberly Flynn, director of 9/11 Environmental Action.
A Health Department spokesman said, “We can’t comment on the health of these specific students, but over the years we have followed the health of first responders and civilians who were in lower Manhattan around the time of 9/11.”