Commack counselor sues district over mold, says exposure caused lung disease

A veteran Commack Middle School counselor has sued the Commack Union Free School District in Suffolk County Supreme Court, saying years of mold and water damage at 700 Vanderbilt Parkway caused the lung disease that changed her life.

Denise Pihlkar, a district employee for nearly 20 years, alleges she was exposed to unsafe conditions inside a windowless office with poor ventilation, persistent moisture and black mold from 2012 through 2024. In the filing, she says a doctor diagnosed her with systemic pulmonary sarcoidosis and links the illness to prolonged exposure inside the school.

The lawsuit turns a workplace complaint into a broader public-health issue for one of Commack’s core middle school facilities. Pihlkar is asking the court to preserve maintenance records and identify outside contractors she believes were involved in the building problems, a move that could force scrutiny of what the district knew, when it knew it and how repairs or inspections were handled over more than a decade.

For parents, teachers and taxpayers, the case raises a larger question than one employee’s claim. If a longtime staff member says the building itself made her sick, what does that mean for the students and employees who continued using the same space? The filing lands in the middle of familiar concerns about air quality, deferred maintenance and whether school infrastructure problems are addressed quickly enough before they become health hazards.

Federal health guidance has long warned that damp and moldy buildings are tied to respiratory symptoms, asthma, bronchitis, rhinosinusitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis and respiratory infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health specifically flag schools and other nonindustrial buildings as places where mold and moisture can create occupational hazards, while the Environmental Protection Agency says schools should manage mold through indoor air quality programs and moisture control.

On the medical side, sarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease that primarily affects the lungs. Researchers have studied occupational and environmental exposures as possible risk factors, but the evidence remains limited and not definitive, making Pihlkar’s claim an allegation rather than an established cause.

The district’s board page lists trustees Nicole Goldstein, Dr. William Hender and Dana Schultz, names that are likely to matter as parents and residents look for answers about ventilation spending, capital repairs and maintenance priorities. The lawsuit now places Commack Middle School’s condition under a new kind of pressure, with the school’s air quality and upkeep likely to face closer public and legal scrutiny.