Credit: Neshaminy School District
Five residents of Middletown’s Levittown section have filed a legal motion against the Neshaminy School District.
The legal challenge filed last week in Doylestown claims the school district made “significant misstatements of fact” in a resolution that accompanied a vote to close Samuel Everitt Elementary School last month.
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The complainants – Natalie Chamberlain, Karen Saraullo, Christy Dougherty, Jennifer Wilityer and Kimberly Mason – are asking a county judge to hold a hearing regarding the closure of Everitt and force the district to overturn the closure of the school, which is planned to happen in June.
According to the legal paperwork filed by Levittown attorney Peter Williams, the complaints claim the information found on the resolution the school board approved did not match evidence the district has provided elsewhere.
Below is the text of the resolution:
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The resolution was passed 7-2 by the board, with members Mike Morris and Ron Rudy voting against it.
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“These significant misstatements of fact were relied upon by the Board and by members of the public with respect to voting on and commenting on the permanent closure of Everitt,” legal paperwork states.
The legal challenge lays out differences between information found on the Neshaminy website and information in the resolution, according to the five behind the filing.
The group claims the alleged misrepresentations “were either intentionally or recklessly stated and are contradicted by information found on the District’s website.”
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In paperwork, the complainants did note they were all parents of students impacted by the district’s decision to close the school.
A Middletown resident made the first public mention of the legal challenge during Tuesday night’s school board meeting. Kevin Gallagher questioned the filing and asked the school board what the cost to defend itself would be.
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District spokesman Chris Stanley told LevittownNow.com on Wednesday that Neshaminy officials were aware of the filing.
“The district acted appropriately on all matters outlined in the filing, and we are extremely confident that this will be proven just like it was in the last filing brought against the district from the same attorney objecting to the bond issue,” he said.
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The filing comes just weeks before the primary election and just weeks after a contract to lease Everitt to the Bucks County Intermediate Unit was signed.
Four candidates for school board, who are running for the “Save Our Schools” team, are opposed to the closure of Everitt and have released the following statement:
“We are proud to stand in support of a group of citizens that filed a complaint, in the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County, to stop the closure of Samuel Everitt Elementary School in Levittown. We believe the information provided by the Neshaminy School Board is incorrect; therefore, rendering the decision to close Samuel Everitt, both inaccurate and misleading to the public.
We applaud their efforts to save this school and the integrity of the community that surrounds it. In doing so they may stop the ill-advised moving of fifth graders into the middle school setting. SOS, and our School Board candidates, believes children of this age are not prepared to handle some situations that arise in a middle school environment.
We thank these courageous parents, citizens, taxpayers for stepping forward in an effort to save our beloved schools and communities from the destructive actions of the current board.”
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The “Save Our Schools” group previously tried to get the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to block a bond issue Neshaminy voted on. The group claimed the district delayed their ability to review full documentation related to a bond that the board voted on last month. In the end, state officials threw out the claim a few weeks after it was filed.
Some members of the Levittown community have been outspoken about their disagreement with the board’s consolidation plan that would close schools, build a new one in Lower Southampton, and renovate several buildings.
