Pottsville Responds to Gillingham Lawsuit

The law firm which represents Pottsville Area School District offered a reaction to the federal lawsuit filed by students, parents, and staff at Gillingham Charter School in the city on Tuesday.

That lawsuit alleges that Pottsville Area school officials illegally blocked Gillingham students’ access to a regional college fair held at Martz Hall on Oct. 3.

The scenes were recorded by Gillingham students and staff and then posted to social media. In the lawsuit, students say they were detained illegally by Pottsville Area staff, humiliated, illegally blocked from accessing the fair – which they say was held on public property – and in some cases, physically confronted by Superintendent Sarah Yoder.

Gillingham plaintiffs are seeking relief on nine counts in their lawsuit. (READ THE FULL STORY ON THE LAWSUIT BY FOLLOWING THE LINK AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE.)

The Canary contacted Yoder and Kevin Reid, school board Solicitor, for comment on Tuesday. Yoder directed our request for comment to Reid’s firm, King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul LLC, of Bethlehem.

Later Tuesday, we heard back from John E. Freund III, a partner at the firm, who says the lawsuit filed by Gillingham is “rife with false and inaccurate statements” and that it has “no legal merit.”

Freund also says that many of the plaintiffs’ legal standing in the lawsuit is “questionable.”

He also says that Gillingham’s complaint “improperly attempts to rehash old grievances over charter compliance issues.”

Freund adds, “The College Fair was not open to the public but was by invitation only to school districts of Schuylkill IU29.”

Gillingham says it received an invite to the college fair from Pottsville Area but that invite was later rescinded because it was sent in error.

Pottsville Area has previously said that an agreement on that matter was reached between the schools prior to the date of the college fair. It says that the Gillingham’s actions at the college fair were “orchestrated and premeditated.”

Freund said there would be no other comment from the district at this time regarding the lawsuit.

READ MORE:

• Gillingham Charter Parents, Students, Teachers File Lawsuit Against Pottsville Area School District Over Alleged College Fair Exclusion