Mid-Del Schools Settles Negligence Lawsuit After Then-7th Grade Student Cut Fingers During Workshop

Mid-Del Public Schools agreed to pay a student’s family $125,000 after they accused the district of failing to properly take care of a then-Carl Albert Middle School student when he accidentally cut off multiple fingers in a workshop class. 

Isaiah Stone, a rising senior in the district, said he had a goal of joining the military prior to the incident. 

“It was either military or vehicles,” he said. “Now that military is not an option, all I'm holding onto is vehicles.” 

Doctors amputated portions of three of Stone’s fingers after the accident at a CAMS workshop class in May 2018. 

Stone, who was 14 years old at the time, said the teacher instructed him to use a table saw to make a cutting board. The saw Stone used did not have certain safety features, including a blade guard or arriving knife. 

“I feel a small pain in my hand like a papercut at first, small. Then, it rapidly intensifies. Then I notice my hand is ground beef,” Stone said. 

Stone and his mother, Karen, filed a lawsuit against the district alleging negligence. The family claimed the teacher allowed Stone to use the saw “without supervision” despite it lacking safety features. 

Last week, an Oklahoma County district court judge closed the lawsuit after the family agreed to the district’s proposed settlement of $125,000, which is the maximum amount of damages schools can pay according to state law.  

Karen Stone said their medical bills have already exceeded $300,000, leaving Isaiah to shoulder the cost of the injury. 

“I feel it’s going to cause a lot of problems for him to be able to provide for him and his family further through life,” she said, adding that she is now an advocate for changing the law to allow schools to carry more liability in civil cases. 

“It's not going to help my son now,” Karen Stone said. “It might help future children, which is great. The law needs to change, but what about Isaiah?” 

The Stone family started an online fundraiser for Isaiah on GoFundMe.com. Click here to visit the fundraiser’s page. 

Stacey Boyer, spokesperson for Mid-Del Public Schools, said the district would not be issuing a statement regarding the settlement. 

An attorney for Stone provided News 9 with five separate incident reports from CAMS where a student was accidentally injured by a band saw. The incidents occurred from 2012 to 2017 in the same class with the same teacher. 

“We no longer have that program,” Boyer said, adding that the teacher involved in each incident retired after the 2019-2020 school year.