Teacher Infected With Scabies Sues School

A teacher at a Brooklyn public school is suing the city's Department of Education, saying that she became infected with scabies because the school's art department was infested with mice and rats.

The teacher, Yvonne Massaro, taught television and video production at the Edward R. Murrow High School in Midwood, an education-department-designated "School of Excellence" that has won the state chess championship for the past nine years.

Ms. Massaro says in the suit that the school's art department featured a "mice and rat infested room, mice and rat feces on the floor, mice and rat eaten bags of candy, dirty floors, infected bags of dirty clothes and other infected clutter," which resulted in her acquiring scabies, bronchial asthma, and extreme chronic fatigue.

Ms. Massaro asks for relief from the conditions in the suit, which was filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

School administrators did not return repeated requests for comment yesterday.