Pennsbury School Board Member DeBlasio Resigns Following Controversy

After mounting public pressure to resign from her seat on the Pennsbury School Board, Region 3 (Falls Township) representative Debbie DeBlasio did just that on Monday.

Following rumors throughout the day, several sources confirmed the resignation early in the evening. Attempts to contact DeBlasio were not returned as of 7 p.m.

School Board President Gary Sanderson confirmed around 7 p.m. that DeBlasio had submitted her letter of resignation.

“The Board of Directors will accept Mrs. DeBlasio’s resignation at their next meeting.  At that time, the Board of Directors will discuss filling the vacancy caused by Mrs. DeBlasio’s resignation,” he said in an email.

The Democratic school director was found to currently be residing in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. DeBlasio has previously denied the claims and findings of an investigation by Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler’s office.

DeBlasio, a realtor, has told LevittownNow.com she has been “test driving” a post-retirement full-time move to Myrtle Beach.

Larry King, a former reporter and consultant for Heckler, combed public records to determine DeBlasio and her husband, Wayne, had listed their newly-constructed home in South Carolina as their primary residence in mortgage papers. King also discovered a second mortgage taken out on their Falls Township home on Olds Boulevard that the couple listed it as their “second home.” A multi-page press release laid out evidence showing DeBlasio lived full-time in Myrtle Beach. It was noted by King that DeBlasio did write in some paperwork that she was a “non-resident of the State of South Carolina.”

Heckler said following his office’s investigation that he did not plan to pursue legal action against DeBlasio but would approve a quo warranto action brought against the Pennsbury School Board Region 3 member.

An online legal dictionary described a quo warranto action as a “legal proceeding during which an individual’s right to hold an office or governmental privilege is challenged.”

Former Pennsbury School Board member and Lower Makefield Republican Simon Campbell said on Monday that he had filed a legal complaint about DeBlasio’s residence.

A video of DeBlasio at her real estate job in South Carolina surfaced over the weekend and seemed to cement the idea DeBlasio was living down south.

DeBlasio took aim at Campbell and the investigation in her resignation letter. “While Heckler could not win in the a courtroom, the District Attorney’s press release concerning his ‘investigation’ has succeeded where Simon Campbell could not: in the last few weeks, the focus of School Board meetings and District Business has slipped away from the students of Pennsbury and their education,” she wrote. “Let me be clear: I am a proud 28-year resident of Falls Township, where I continue to reside.”

Click here to read DeBlasio’s resignation letter

Lower Makefield resident Annette Dearolf started a petition late last week to try get DeBlasio to step down after she stated multiple times she was not planning to resign. “We, the residents and voters of the Pennsbury School District, demand that Debra (Debbie) DeBlasio resign immediately from the Pennsbury School Board,” the petition, which had over 420 signatures by Monday evening, reads.

Dearolf told LevittownNow.com a hard copy of the petition was also taken around and received several signatures from residents.  “A friend and I went out and every person we talked to signed it, except one,” Dearolf said. “She had already signed online.”

A few members of the public have spoken at recent school board meetings and asked DeBlasio to resign.

According to records, DeBlasio has attended 14 school board meetings via phone since she was sworn in December 2013.

While DeBlasio has technically attended most of the school board’s meetings via telephone, which is legal, she has not physically been seated with the rest of the board at the majority of the meetings.

The state school board code states board members must live in their district and region in order to be able to serve.

Board solicitor Peter C. Amuso said last month the board could not take action on the matter at the time.

On a real estate website profile that was made public in December, DeBlasio wrote about high taxes in Pennsbury. “We were living in what we thought was our ‘dream house’ when we built it, but as we got more into our 50’s, we realized that paying $600 a month in property taxes would be a nightmare on a fixed income,” she wrote in her Realtor.com profile. Ironically enough, DeBlasio  voted in 2014 to increase district taxes.

DeBlasio also serves as a chairperson for the Township of Falls Authority (TOFA). According to meeting minutes for early 2014, she attended the reorganization meeting in person and attended later meetings via Skype and telephone.

Several years back, DeBlasio’s husband was involved in a similar issue when he was representing Region 2 in Pennsbury when he actually was living in Region 3. The issue was settled before a judge.

DeBlasio claimed in her resignation letter that no one from Heckler’s office asked her any questions during the course of their investigation.

“After conferring with our fellow board members, I have decided to end this distraction. I hereby resign my Region 3 seat of the Pennsbury School District Board of Directors, effective upon the acceptance of my resignation by the School Board.”

Related:

• DeBlasio Shows Up In Person At Pennsbury Meeting
• Investigation Into Whether Pennsbury School Board Member Is Living In Myrtle Beach Ends