Three months after the mold lawsuit against the St. Charles school district was expanded, it has shrunk again.
In February, nearly six years into the lawsuit, Kane County Judge Michael Colwell allowed 29 plaintiffs to join the suit with its sole remaining complainant, former student Lindsey Scharpenter.

This month, Colwell dismissed 24 of them from the case. The plaintiffs, all former students, were dismissed for failing to meet legal timelines for answering discovery questions from school district attorneys.
Six plaintiffs remain in the case.

The original lawsuit filed in 2001 had a mix of students, teachers and cafeteria workers from St. Charles High School, which would later become St. Charles East High School. That group was whittled down when many were unable to prove their illnesses were related to mold at the school.

The student plaintiffs claim a variety of illnesses were caused from exposure to mold in the school.
The lawsuit alleges the district failed to address environmental concerns at the school. For more than 10 years before mold forced the school’s closure in March 2001, some teachers and students complained of fatigue, headaches and breathing difficulties when in the building.

In 1997, parents and teachers unsuccessfully pushed for testing of the building. Partial tests were done in 1998 and 1999. Members of the school's air quality task force formally requested a comprehensive room-by-room study for mold in January 1999 and again in May 2000.

Inspections in 2001 found mold growing behind walls because of problems with the heating and air conditioning system. The school was closed for 18 months and $28 million was spent to remediate the problem.
Attempts failed in May 2004 at opening the lawsuit to a class-action status for the approximately 3,000 students and 350 staff who were in the building with the mold growth.

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