The Vancouver School Board has quietly settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit that raised questions about the role class size and composition — key issues in the ongoing B.C. teachers' strike — might have played in a 2009 incident that left a Grade 5 student brain damaged.
The board reached the deal in May, agreeing to pay $1.7 million to the family of a girl at Henry Hudson Elementary School.
The out-of-court settlement before the case went to trial leaves unexplored the full extent that class size and composition might have played in the incident, but the court file shows it emerged as an issue during examinations for discovery.
According to B.C. Supreme Court documents, Bezawit Chanyalew was an "engaged, social, friendly" 10-year-old before suffering a severe heart attack in gym class on April 24, 2009. She went into cardiac arrest for several minutes as emergency workers struggled to revive her.
Now 16, she suffered brain injury due to lack of oxygen, resulting in severe cognitive and physical disabilities and years of intense rehabilitation.
Acting on Chanyalew's behalf, B.C.'s public guardian and trustee sued, claiming the school failed to act on a fax sent two days before the incident. The fax said the girl had a heart condition known as long QT syndrome, which can result in seizures or unexpected death during strenuous activity.
No comments:
Post a Comment