PHILADELPHIA (CN) — An award-winning Philadelphia high school teacher is suing the city's school district over asbestos exposure after a yearslong battle with a rare form of breast cancer.
Juan Namnun, a health and physical education teacher and baseball coach at Frankford High School, was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma in 2022 "as a direct and proximate result of [his] repeated exposure to and inhalation of excessive amounts of asbestos fibers and dust at Frankford High school over a period of multiple decades," according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in state court. Namnun has worked at Frankford High since 2001.
The suit also names as defendants several companies that performed environmental testing, as well as asbestos manufacturers.
The School District of Philadelphia's fight with asbestos reached new heights in March of 2023, when officials discovered that plaster in Building 21, a district high school in North Philadelphia's West Oak Lane neighborhood, had been falsely labeled as asbestos-free since the 1990s.
That finding led the district to reassess asbestos exposure in several school buildings. In the process, nine more Philadelphia schools — including Frankford High — were also found to have damaged plasters that were mislabeled as asbestos-free during previous inspections. While untouched asbestos is harmless, disturbed asbestos can release tiny particles that can increase the risk of some cancers if inhaled.
Following the district's revelation, all 10 schools switched to virtual learning while the buildings underwent asbestos removals, known as abatements.
Currently, only a fraction of Frankford High School's building is open. Students in grades 10 through 12 crowd into the building's annex for classes, while ninth graders have been moved to Roberto Clemente Middle School in North Philadelphia’s Hunting Park neighborhood.
"This is a systemic, long-standing issue that didn't happen overnight," said Thomas Bosworth, Namnun's attorney. "I think that's the most alarming part to me."
In his suit, Namnun also claims the school district concealed Frankford High's asbestos contamination. Bosworth noted that federal reports outline abatements at the school building since 1989 — suggesting the school district failed to inform students and faculty for decades.
"The fact that those abatement activities have been going on for, what, now almost 40 years, proves that the school district has known this is a big problem," Bosworth said.
The prevalence of asbestos in Philadelphia's schools hasn't just impacted Namnun. In 2020, Lea DiRusso, a teacher who was diagnosed with mesothelioma after nearly 30 years of teaching in the city's asbestos-filled schools, received an $850,000 settlement from the school district.
Nearly 200,000 students attend classes in the city's school district, and most of the city's schools use buildings built before asbestos' effects on human health were widely recognized.
"The elephant in the room here is that we're talking about children," Bosworth said. "At the end of the day, schools are where kids go. It's inexcusable in my view."
"The goal here is not just to achieve compensation for Juan, because a lot was taken from him and he needs to be compensated," he added. "My goal here is that the school district not only take complete accountability and apologize, but really remediate the entire situation — not just at Frankford, but throughout the city."
Following his cancer diagnosis and treatment — which has included a double mastectomy, reconstructive surgery and chemotherapy — Namnun has partnered with the American Cancer Society to raise awareness of breast cancer in men. He continues to work as a teacher at Frankford High.
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