The war of words between Gillingham Charter School and Pottsville Area School District continues.
After Gillingham students, parents, and teachers sued Pottsville Area, its Superintendent Sarah Yoder, and two Guidance Counselors earlier this week over an incident at a college fair earlier this month, the law firm that represents Pottsville Area responded publicly to the claims made in the complaint.
Now, the lawyer representing Gillingham is responding to Pottsville’s response, saying the district is gaslighting the public about what transpired at the college fair and the general nature of its lawsuit.
Mark E. Seiberling, of Kleinbard LLC and representing Gillingham, tears into Pottsville’s response to the lawsuit and the claims made in it.
First, Seiberling takes exception with Pottsville’s claim that the lawsuit is “rife with false and inaccurate statements.”
That’s not true, Seiberling says.
“Our complaint is true, accurate, and highlights egregious conduct by Pottsville Area School District officials for which they still refuse to accept responsibility,” Seiberling says.
Pottsville also says the lawsuit has no legal merit and questions the standing of many of the 22 plaintiffs included in the complaint.
Seiberling responds by saying, “There is extensive video evidence to support our claims … including video evidence showing physical contact by Dr. Yoder.”
Pottsville also says that the lawsuit is trying to rehash the tense relationship that’s existed between the city-based charter school and the school district.
The inclusion of that information in the lawsuit, Seiberling is saying, is to show the alleged pattern of activity between the two schools.
“This is just the latest incident in a historic pattern and practice of Pottsville unfairly targeting and abusing its power over Gillingham,” Seiberling says.
And finally, on Pottsville’s claim that the college fair it hosted earlier this month was intended to be open only to IU29 members, Gillingham’s attorney says his client is a member of the IU.
Seiberling says Gillingham was invited to the college fair twice.
In more comments, he also seems to be responding to some social media comments reacting to the lawsuit and the situation at the college fair.
He said, “What you should be asking is: ‘Why wasn’t the College Fair open to the public?’ It should be a chance for all public high school students in Schuylkill County to visit and meet with college admissions representatives in a public space during school hours, not just those apparently hand chosen by Pottsville administrators.
“Indeed, Pottsville educators, like all educators, should want all Schuylkill County students to pursue higher education and obtain college degrees, not just Pottsville students. In other words, the focus of this College Fair incident should be: ‘Why was Gillingham disinvited?’, not ‘Why did Gillingham still show up after being disinvited?’ The latter misses the point of our lawsuit and the clear constitutional violations committed by Pottsville administrators,” he said.
READ MORE:
- Pottsville Responds to Gillingham Lawsuit
- Gillingham Charter Parents, Students, Teachers File Lawsuit Against Pottsville Area School District Over Alleged College Fair Exclusion
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