Lea DiRusso, the career city teacher diagnosed last year with a deadly asbestos-linked cancer, is in line to be paid $850,000 by the Philadelphia School District.
The school board on Thursday night will consider a resolution allowing the district “to execute, deliver, and perform a settlement agreement” with DiRusso and Amr Osman, her husband, who had filed notice of intent to sue the school system.
The settlement comes “in exchange for a release of all claims that have been or could be asserted against the district,” according to language included in board documents. “The Office of General Counsel recommends this settlement as a fair and appropriate resolution of the parties’ dispute.”
After spending 28 years as a special-education teacher at two South Philadelphia elementary schools — Meredith and Nebinger, both with known asbestos problems — DiRusso began feeling ill last spring. Doctors were confounded by her swelling, hard belly, suggesting it was related to menopause or gastritis.
The day she moved her daughter into college, DiRusso got the diagnosis: mesothelioma [ asbestos-linked cancer ], caused by ingesting or inhaling asbestos fibers.
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