Respect is often the first casualty in contentious settings like Pennsbury School Board meetings. The wisdom in sayings like “Respect is a two-way street,” “To gain respect, you must first give it,” “Respect is earned, not given,” and “Treat people how you want to be treated” seems to be forgotten. When one side controls the rules and applies them unevenly, it undermines community trust. This abuse of authority and misuse of taxpayer funds for retaliation can erode respect from both directions.

The Pennsbury School District has unfortunately become known for its legal entanglements here in Bucks County. Since COVID, the district has settled three EEOC lawsuits totaling around $1 million, a First Amendment lawsuit for $300,000, a settlement with the Director of Special Education for a cost of $100,000, and an LGBTQ discrimination lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. Additionally, there have been millions in Special Education settlements that have occurred under the Pennsbury School Board’s oversight that result in taxpayer funds being diverted to other schools. Despite these repeated losses in court, their aggressive tactics persist as a State Senate Committee Hearing commences to reviewing record retention activities of Pennsbury and other school districts.

RTKs Uncover Disturbing Issues

The recent increase in threats began in September 2024 when Tim Daly and Robert Abrams informed the Board members and its Solicitor about a complaint being filed with the Auditor General’s Office and our digging into workplace hostility issues. The Auditor General complaint stemmed from RTK findings related to questionable financial records activities and the workplace hostility inquiries delved into the departure of Regina Rausch. Emails obtained regarding Rausch’s departure indicated a lack of response from staff to email communications concerning IEP compliance, which subsequently led to the filing of an RTK request for Google Chat communications. On September 24, 2024, the Pennsbury School District responded via email after emails revealed the potential use of Chat Applications confirming destruction of records within 24 hours.

SAMPLE RECORDS RETENTION SCHEDULE

Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO), an education industry non-profit advisor, recommends that correspondences/email communications regarding school business must be retained for a minimum of three years. However, the law in PA has not caught up with “new technology” as to whether SMS texts and chat applications should be retained for the same period. These regulations were established before the widespread use of SMS texts and chat applications. Nonetheless, in the spirit of the law, it is evident per the guidance of PASBO on Records Retentions that SMS texts and chat applications are forms of correspondence. On March 24, 2025, the actions of the multiple School District will be under review by the PA Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee.

First Attempt Made To Have Community Members Arrested

After a flurry of emails exchanged on September 23rd and 24th, Falls Township Police officer Christopher Iacono reached out to Tim Daly on the 25th regarding an open investigation initiated by Pennsbury School Board member Chip Taylor. While the specifics of Taylor’s allegations to the Falls Township Police remain unclear, the only interactions between Daly and Taylor were through email communications on Pennsbury servers, wherein Taylor repeatedly responded back and removed fellow Board Members from the thread in his retorts. As a result of these actions, the following cease and desist letter was sent to Pennsbury.

In the weeks that followed, more community members began attending Pennsbury meetings, raising questions about the costs and poor process surrounding the new Pennsbury High School building. On November 7, 2024, a tumultuous meeting took place where the public was invited to hear presentations from the Architectural Design firm and the Construction Management firm. Numerous community members, led by Jennifer Metzger, expressed outrage that Public Comment was improperly scheduled before the presentations, alleging that the community was being silenced. The video of the meeting, along with President Joanne Steere’s hasty adjournment after Board Member Donna Ahrens engaged with the public to address their concerns, can be viewed below. The dispute begins around 1:21:37 within the meeting and those interactions were with three female attendees.

Second Attempt Made To Have Community Members Arrested

On November 14, 2024, Pennsbury officials canceled the Policy and Finance Committee meetings, citing a security concern. They claimed that an investigation by Falls Township Police was ongoing. As a result, all attendees, including students invited to receive awards, were required to go through metal detector screening. To date, no arrests have been made, and Pennsbury has not provided any evidence to the public regarding the alleged threat of violence. Unfortunately, investigations are exempt from RTK. However, the following legal letter from Solicitor Erin Aronson of Eastburn & Gray sheds some light on their actions.

As noted in the second paragraph, Solicitor Aronson alleges that a conversation was “overheard” between Tim Daly and Jennifer Metzger, suggesting that Daly made a threat involving gun violence. It’s important to note that the Falls Township Police have never contacted Daly or Metzger regarding these allegations. Additionally, Tim Daly has publicly confirmed that he does not have a gun registered in his name, has no access to a gun, and has never handled or fired a gun in his life.

You will also see in the second-to-last paragraph that Aronson denies knowledge of the physical incident that occurred at the June 2023 meeting when an attempt to physically assault was made. At the very next meeting in July 2023, Falls Township Police were present in the lobby at the cost of $750 per meeting, and a security rope was placed between attendees and the Board. Yet, in her legal response, Aronson adamantly claims that nothing happened.

As a result of this legal notice from Aronson, PSD411 was created to ensure that the public is fully aware of the behavior not seen at Board Meetings and unreported in the news.

Legal Attacks Target More Community Members

Pressure has been mounting on the Pennsbury School District behind the scenes, and PSD411 will soon be revealing more details. These issues include whistleblowers reporting a hostile work environment, the discovery of multiple lawsuits at Superintendent Tom Smith’s previous employer, two Office of Civil Rights complaints recently filed against Pennsbury for discrimination against Special Education and LGBTQ students, an Auditor General’s complaint, and the upcoming State Senate hearing on March 24, 2025, focused on records destruction activities. Additionally, there has been a chorus of attendees at the January 2025 Board Meeting calling on the Board to comply with Federal executive orders to remove DEI and Transgender policies from the District.

During the February 6, 2025, Facilities meeting, Pennsbury violated multiple provisions of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, which mandates that the district post a final agenda with all attachments for community review within 24 hours of the meeting. Pennsbury failed to post the KCBA presentation until just a few hours before the meeting, and an agenda item related to YMS Soccer lacked sufficient details for public participation. Despite the objections at the November 7, 2024, Special Meeting and the subsequent “mea culpa” by Board President Joanne Steere, pledging to stop disrespecting the community by placing Public Comment before presentations and agenda items, both Abrams and Metzger objected to these actions, leading to a brief adjournment of the meeting. Below is a link to listen to the audio from the Facilities Committee meeting held on February 6, 2025. The dispute around the violation of PA Sunshine Law begins as 56:56 as Abrams and Metzger express complaints that no information was provided within the agenda for them to address during public comment.

On February 18, 2025, during the Policy Committee meeting which failed to address the repeal of DEI and Transgender policies mandated by law to be removed by March 21, 2025. Pennsbury residents and meeting attendees Robert Abrams and Jennifer Metzger received threatening letters from Solicitor Erin Aronson. Copies of these legal notices sent by Pennsbury can be viewed below.

Abrams Legal Notice

Metzger Legal Notice

For those who listen to the audio, it becomes evident that the objections and complaints were centered around violations of the Sunshine Law Act, which Pennsbury has repeatedly breached. Public records with timestamps substantiate these violations. By law, school districts are required to produce a final agenda within 24 hours of the meeting and must provide sufficient details to ensure public understanding of the issues being discussed. Under Section 710.1(c), community members are afforded the following civil rights:

(c) Objection.–Any person has the right to raise an objection at any time to a perceived
violation of this chapter at any meeting of a board or council of a political subdivision or an
authority created by a political subdivision.

https://www.openrecords.pa.gov/Documents/SunshineAct.pdf

At the time this article was published, Pennsbury may be in violation of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Law despite the objections by refusing to provide written public details about the YMS Partnership with Pennsbury. The only information available is an audio file, buried on the website, related to these legal notices detailing the YMS Partnership. Under PA law, it is the position of many legal experts, including Melissa Melewsky whom is staff counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, that the PA Sunshine Law is “clear and unambigous about the standard” and that denial of basic information “falls well short of the transparency required of the government”.

Community Members Serve Notice To Pennsbury

Through their legal counsel, Pennsbury community members have issued a response to Aronson’s meritless legal notices as of this publication. The letter advises Aronson on the workings of the Sunshine Law Act, reminds them of their obligations to respect Mr. Abrams’ physical disabilities that affect his ability to speak publicly, and informs the District that Daly and Abrams are tentatively scheduled to testify as witnesses at the upcoming State Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee on March 24, 2025.