A judge on Monday dismissed the crux of a lawsuit initiated by the NAACP last month against the Arlington school district that demanded that Nichols Junior High School be shuttered until the source of an illness could be found and eradicated, according to officials.

Judge Tom Lowe of the 236th State District Court dismissed the school district, school board president and superintendent as defendants in the suit after the district’s attorney argued it was “frivolous, unreasonable and without foundation.” But he left the suit in effect against the district’s several lab and engineering consultants and the Tarrant County Public Health Department, whose work on the problem was “negligent,” the suit alleges.

The judge also awarded the school district $14,500 in legal costs to be paid by the two attorneys who filed the suit on behalf of the NAACP. The district had argued for nearly $20,000.

Lowe had not filed his action with the court by closing time Monday. The details were provided in slightly differing accounts in interviews with district spokeswoman Leslie Johnston and plaintiffs’ attorney Jasmine Crockett.

Crocket said she will appeal the judge’s decision.

The lawsuit sought a temporary restraining order, a jury trial and more than $1 million for alleged current and potential future health problems.

The suit listed as plaintiffs 13 school staff members and parents on behalf of their children who attend Nichols. Crockett said she would discuss with them the “advantages and disadvantages” of pressing forward with legal action against the consultants.

The NAACP and attorneys Crockett and Lee Merritt said when they filed the lawsuit March 23 that 72 Nichols employees and parents had lodged 522 complaints of symptoms including nausea, headaches, dizziness and fainting since the problem first arose on Sept. 22, forcing a brief evacuation of the school.

Alisa Simmons, president of the NAACP’s Arlington chapter, said at the time that the recurring illnesses over the past six months amounted to “an issue of environmental injustice.” She and other civil rights workers suggested the distinct hasn’t made the problem a priority because Nichols has a large majority of ethnic minority students

But the district said it has worked hard and resolved the problem.

“The health and safety of our students and staff remains of the utmost importance,” the district said in a statement Monday. “The district has done extensive testing at Nichols and been transparent with the results, sharing them publicly on the Nichols website.”

The district said it is “confident in the results of both the internal and external testing and analysis” of its several consultants, the county health department, the Arlington Fire Department and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the results of which “indicate nothing in the building would cause a health risk.”

Crockett said the award of legal costs is “a swipe against myself and Mr. Lee for just trying to seek relief” for those experiencing symptoms.

Crockett said she accepted the judge’s finding that the district is immune from tort claims. “We’re willing to say we don’t want any money,” she said. “All we’re seeking is a solution for these children and staff members who are continuously having to be submitted to this environment that is causing them harm.”

For more information, please visit www.star-telegram.com.