Admitting that mold was present in two public middle schools at the time, the Guam Department of Education and plaintiffs reached a settlement, ending a two-year legal battle over claims of violation of the Adequate Education Act.

GDOE Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Swanson shared what was agreed to Thursday in the Superior Court of Guam.

“That was a more complex case than the last point. The plaintiff wanted to make that there was mold in the schools–and what we agreed to is in the settlement: on the day they filed the complaint, there was mold in both schools,” said Dr. Swanson.

As KUAM previously reported, the case was filed back in 2023, when two GDOE students with disabilities, one at Oceanview Middle and the other at Agueda Johnston, reported respiratory issues due to mold, and a lack of a certified teacher on 64 occasions, respectively.

The mold issue was the final point to be addressed in the case.

Both students have since moved on to high school.

Representing the two students, executive director of Guam Legal Services Corporation - Disability Law Center, Attorney Daniel Somerfleck explained, “Because of the length of this lawsuit, neither one of the plaintiffs was still in middle school. So, we no longer have a very good ability to seek injunctive relief if they’re no longer attending those schools. So, what we came to an agreement with is not for injunctive relief but was towards declaratory relief. The court asked two questions as we were going to trial: was there mold in the schools, and is mold harmful to students?”

Somerfleck added that, with only those two questions remaining, both sides were able to come to a resolution.

“We also understand that mold is not healthy–we know that. Since that time, we have cleaned all of our facilities—both of those, plus the rest of them. At the same time, we’re in the tropics. We have another big storm, we’re going to be fighting off mold again, and that’s something that we see all over the island—we all have to do that. So, we’re going to continue to work on that,” Dr. Swanson shared.

Meanwhile, Somerfleck notes this marks the first time a lawsuit has been filed under the Adequate Education Act, and hopes the outcome sends a message.

“I think it shows them that they do have exposure. It shows to the DOE and hopefully everyone out there that there are certain obligations in education,” said Somerfleck. “I look at the case as a success right from the get-go, right when we started suing and talking about the 14 points of the Adequate Education Act. It certainly raised awareness amongst the board and everyone else that you need to start following laws.”

Somerfleck also raised another point, the issue of broken elevators in schools, saying: Don’t wait to be sued to fix the problem.