New Central Bucks school board has authorized a legal challenge of the former superintendent’s $700,000 payout

The new Democratic-controlled Central Bucks school board moved quickly Monday to roll back some of its GOP-led predecessors’ most controversial actions — from suspending policies restricting library books to authorizing potential legal action related to the former superintendent’s $700,000 payout.

What shape the new board’s actions will ultimately take isn’t yet clear. The board’s new solicitor, for instance, said earlier Monday that he needed to learn more about the separation agreement reached between the prior board and now-resigned superintendent Abram Lucabaugh before pursuing a lawsuit.

But the crowd that lined up outside the Central Bucks administrative building to witness the swearing-in of new members Monday was ready to celebrate, regardless — cheering new leadership after what numerous speakers described as two years of “chaos,” bookended by highly contentious, big-money elections.

Republicans who cemented their majority in 2021 enacted bans on teacher “advocacy” in classrooms — including the display of Pride flags — and “sexualized content” in library books, and faced a federal complaint alleging the district had discriminated against LGBTQ students.

But Democrats swept the Nov. 7 school board elections — as they did in a number of area districts where culture-war issues had dominated debate.

“Two years ago, I stood in this room a broken woman,” said Silvi Haldepur, a district parent. But “this community banded together and stood up against the hate.”

Keith Willard, a social studies teacher, told the board it was “incredibly difficult” to work for the district when the previous board had “actively marginalized people” and pushed the “belief that staff are indoctrinating kids.”

“What I ask of this board is that you help steer the ship ... and return the stewardship to the people that do the real work every day” — teachers and staff, said Willard, who drew a standing ovation.

The room again broke into applause as the board voted to suspend the library and advocacy policies, as well as a policy banning transgender students from participating in sports aligned with their gender identities — a measure the former board passed at its final meeting in the wake of last month’s elections.

At that same meeting, the board voted to give Lucabaugh $700,000 as part of a separation agreement that had been announced a day earlier and drew outcry from community members. The payout included a year’s worth of the $315,000 salary the board gave Lucabaugh this summer — a 40% raise that came with a new five-year contract, and also sparked backlash.

The agreement also included $265,000 for 219 accumulated unused sick days — an amount calculated based on Lucabaugh’s recent salary increase.

David Conn, the board’s new solicitor, said earlier Monday that the agreement “appears to be blatantly unlawful,” in part based on the amount awarded. Pennsylvania law caps severance payments at a year’s worth of salary and benefits for superintendents leaving more than two years before the end of their contracts.

The agreement also placed limits on the current board — including that no board member or central office administrator can make any public comments about Lucabaugh that contradict a joint statement included in the agreement, which describes his “extraordinary leadership.” The board also cannot initiate any investigation of Lucabaugh.

A departing school board can’t bind its successors like that, Conn said. But he said he had to learn more before filing a lawsuit to try to recoup the money — including confirming to what extent any lawyer had represented the district in the agreement. The board’s former leaders didn’t share that information with Democrats, Conn said.

On Monday night, the board voted unanimously to authorize possible legal action — including Republican members now in the minority who had voted for the agreement.

“I don’t look at every contract with a jeweler’s loupe to see whether or not it’s legal; I defer to the expertise to the people the district hires — in this case, a very, very experienced labor lawyer,” said one of those board members, Jim Pepper. However, “if any of the terms in the contract do not comport with the law, then I certainly support looking into that.”

Conn said that if board members spent money that “they knew full well they weren’t legally entitled to spend,” they could be held liable.

“But we’re not there yet,” he said.

One big expense the board approved Monday: payment of more than $1 million to the Duane Morris law firm, which the former board hired to respond to the complaint the American Civil Liberties Union filed with the U.S. Department of Education last year, alleging the district had created a hostile environment for LGBTQ students. Lawyers from the firm — including former U.S. attorney and former GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McSwain — issued findings in April concluding there was no pattern of discrimination.

The firm — which instead accused a teacher and Democrats of trying to weaponize the allegations against the Republican board majority — had not submitted any invoices since April, according to Tara Houser, the district’s chief of operations.

“At the time, I was told the bills were under negotiation,” Houser told the board Monday.

On Nov. 13, Houser received invoices for services in April through October, bringing the total the firm billed the district to $1.7 million. (The district’s insurer reimbursed $250,000, Houser said.)

“I’ve never seen a firm sit on bills of this magnitude for this long,” Houser said. At Houser’s recommendation, the board approved the payments, though Karen Smith, the new board president, said she would be “taking a close look at the invoices ... and asking Duane Morris not to bill us any further.”

Amid the celebratory atmosphere were reminders of partisan division.

Vonna DeArmond, a supporter of the former majority, said she faced “mob behavior and bullying” from supporters of “the left” at last month’s meeting.

“I get you’re all excited, but is the tailgating and drinking before board meetings going to be a regular thing?” she said, asking how the new board was going to “bring respect and civility.” Another woman, Donna Shannon, warned of a “tremendous amount of union money poured into” supporting Democrats.

Others expressed confidence the board was headed in a better direction.

Shenoa Incorvati told the board she moved to Doylestown in 2019, having decided it was a good place to send her children to school. “And then it kind of all came crashing down,” she said. “This was not the environment I wanted my children to go to school in.”

After two years of fiery public comment sessions, Incorvati said she hoped the new board would express interest, rather than offer “blank faces” when community members were speaking — “so that whether you smile or you scowl — and there are definitely a few scowls up here tonight — we feel respected.”