Central Bucks won’t challenge former superintendent Abram Lucabaugh’s $700,000 payout

The Democratic-led Central Bucks school board won’t challenge the past GOP majority’s $700,000 separation payment to former superintendent Abram Lucabaugh — determining that its chances of winning the case “were not worth the risks,” board president Karen Smith said.

After months of investigating the separation agreement between the district and Lucabaugh — who abruptly resigned after Democrats swept November’s school board elections — the board found “ambiguity” in state law regarding $274,000 that the former superintendent was paid for unused sick days, Smith said at a school board meeting Tuesday.

A successful challenge also could have resulted in a judge nullifying the agreement, resulting in Lucabaugh’s reinstatement, Smith said. With former Lower Merion superintendent Steven Yanni taking over in Central Bucks next month, “we do not want to risk having to reinstate Dr. Lucabaugh,” she said.

Ari Karpf, an attorney for Lucabaugh — who had threatened to individually sue board members and the district’s solicitor if they pursued a case, claiming they were retaliating against him — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The announcement closes a chapter on the board’s efforts to reverse the controversial agenda of the former GOP majority, which drew intense attention — and pushback — for policies restricting what were considered by some to be sexualized content in library books and staff advocacy in classrooms, including barring the display of Pride flags.

Although the board rolled back those policies, it didn’t find a way to recoup money from Lucabaugh, who was supportive of the former leadership and given a 40% raise in the months before his resignation.

His separation agreement included a $315,000 severance payment — matching his increased salary. It also included nearly $300,000 for unused sick and vacation days.

Although Pennsylvania school code limits severance payments to departing superintendents — with a cap of a year’s worth of salary and benefits for leaders leaving more than two years before the end of their contracts — Smith said it wasn’t clear on sick days.

The law, passed in 2012 after outrage about former Philadelphia superintendent Arlene Ackerman’s more than $900,000 buyout, states that anyone in a first superintendent contract with a district can be paid out only for 30 sick days, said David Conn, solicitor for the Central Bucks board. Those days are supposed to be paid out based on a school district’s plan governing administrator benefits; Central Bucks’ plan specifies that unused sick days are paid at $15 a day.

Lucabaugh’s contract, however, specified that sick days would be paid out at his per diem rate. It’s not clear whether the language in the law regarding sick day payouts applied to Lucabaugh’s most recent contract, or only his first contract as superintendent, Conn said.

“I do think at the end of the day, a court would conclude” the sick day payout was excessive, Conn said Wednesday. But “it’s not a slam dunk.”

In a letter to Conn earlier this year, Karpf said that it was “perfectly reasonable” for the former board to have reached the separation agreement with Lucabaugh — arguing that the new board would have fired him, and Lucabaugh would have brought a wrongful termination lawsuit.

» READ MORE: Central Bucks’ former superintendent may lead a new district: ‘At what point did people think this guy is a good fit?’

Karpf noted that Central Bucks was represented in the agreement by Alfred D’Angelo, a lawyer with Cozen O’Connor, who had said it was legal.

“If you truly believe” the agreement was illegal, “why is CBSD not pursuing a malpractice case and instead threatening litigation against Lucabaugh” that could result in his reinstatement, Karpf said in the letter — noting that the board did not want Lucabaugh to return.

Karpf also accused Conn of illegally opening a Title IX investigation into whether Lucabaugh “violated Title IX in his dealings with female employees under his direct supervision,” saying that Conn had threatened to subpoena Lucabaugh, “potentially for unethical leverage.”

“I am simply concerned that you have no idea what you are doing and that you are legally jeopardizing CBSD,” Karpf said, saying that Lucabaugh was “never once advised of any concern with his behavior” during his 16-year tenure in Central Bucks.

Conn said Wednesday that Karpf had “mischaracterized what we were doing,” which was “exploring whether there could be a Title IX complaint.” Conn, who didn’t comment on what the potential complaint was about, said there was never a formal complaint because “there wasn’t a complainant.”

While Lucabaugh accused Smith of discriminating against him, and threatened to file lawsuits alleging he was retaliated against for complaining about her conduct and for his “political affiliation,” Smith said that threat had “zero impact” on her decision not to challenge the separation agreement.

Smith — who last year told Lucabaugh he could not claim to support fundamental human rights “when you are supporting the same actions as the Nazis” — said that “I stand by the actions I took in the past.”

“I felt like I was doing my due diligence as a board member, and protecting the civil rights of my students,” she said.