A Bucks County judge will take his time to decide whether to throw out or forward a challenge filed against the Neshaminy School District by a group of five residents.
The complainants – Natalie Chamberlain, Karen Saraullo, Christy Dougherty, Jennifer Wilityer and Kimberly Mason – are asking a county judge to force the district to overturn the closure of the Samuel Everitt Elementary School in Levittown, which is planned to happen in June.
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The hearing before Judge Robert Mellon in Doylestown lasted a little more than two hours. District officials including Superintendent Robert Copeland and Donald Harm, assistant to the superintendent for administration, were spotted walking into the Bucks County Justice Center around 9 a.m. Tuesday.
The Middletown-based Begley, Carlin and Mandio law firm represented the district, while Levittown attorney Peter Williams, a former Everitt student, represented the complainants.
Mellon, a former Council Rock School Board member, decided to hold off on making a decision and did not give a firm date on when he would issue his decision.
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According to the legal paperwork filed by Williams, the complaints claim the information found on the resolution the school board approved did not match evidence the district has provided elsewhere.
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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The board’s consolidation plan would close schools, build a new one in Lower Southampton, and renovate several buildings.
At the hearing, school board members Ron Rudy and Mike Morris, who are both opposed to the closing of schools, testified along with members of the district staff, construction team and the director of the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, which has signed a lease to take over Everitt starting this summer.
