DV Journal

(This article first appeared in Broad + Liberty.)

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is investigating Dr. John Sanville, superintendent of the Unionville Chadds Ford School District (UCFSD) based on a complaint filed by a parent in the district alleging misconduct. Chad Williams, an attorney who is pursuing this in his personal capacity as a father, is also pushing back on PDE’s assertion that the allegations and process must remain confidential. Additionally, he questions the timing of PDE’s response which occurred on the same day he alerted the media of the complaint.

If Williams is correct in his interpretation of investigative confidentiality, it could change the way in which PDE manages the process. Allegations and evidence would be able to be shared publicly if the person making the complaint chooses to publicize the information.

Williams filed an Educator Misconduct Complaint with PDE on April 24, 2024. He makes multiple allegations including the superintendent’s refusal to meet with him regarding policy violations, failure to fulfill Right to Know requests consistent with the law, acting in bad faith by withholding documents, and discriminating against him as a result of denying him his right to due process.

The allegations date back to 2022 and include the enforcement of unlawful policies during Covid and more recent issues regarding withholding public documents. Williams claims that the district, and specifically Dr. Sanville, committed multiple violations of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment and perjury.

He asked the school board to investigate, which he says they are required to do under Pennsylvania law, and they failed to do so. “That is why I had to file the educator misconduct complaint.”

Williams provided Broad + Liberty the entire complaint with redactions of personal information, despite the fact that PDE instructed him that the complaint itself and the fact that he filed it are supposed to be confidential. On page five of the complaint, the PDE form reads, “the education misconduct complaint process is confidential and any unauthorized release of confidential information is a misdemeanor of the third degree.”

Williams crossed out that language and added a note: “Judge Karen Marston of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently held that the enforcement of the above cited provision is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. I do not agree to keep the fact that I have submitted this complaint, or any of the facts underlying my allegations herein, confidential.”

Williams references the John Doe v. Jennifer Schorn case decided earlier this year declaring the confidentiality clause unconstitutional. “The confidentiality provision of the Educator Discipline Act was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge, precluding criminal charges against a complainant who wished to publish the contents of an educator misconduct complaint and comment on its disposition.”

He believes the Schorn case is applicable to this situation, despite the fact that the ruling was based on a slightly different situation where the complaint was dismissed. Williams said, “specifically, the court held that the confidentiality provision cannot withstand strict scrutiny because it is content-based and overbroad. That case was not overturned on appeal and the General Assembly has not amended the provision to cure the unconstitutionality. Therefore, I am relying on that holding in disclosing the fact that I filed the complaint.”

The district appears to be relying on the guidance from PDE regarding confidentiality. The Director of Communications and Community Relations for the district, Nikki Laroya, responded to a request for comment. “The District does not and cannot comment on a matter that is extremely confidential as mandated by law.”

Despite filing the complaint on April 24, 2024, the investigation process only recently commenced. PDE acknowledged receipt of the complaint the same day and responded that someone would reach out to him via mail in two to four weeks. Subsequently, Williams emailed PDE multiple times, including on May 31, July 16, and July 19, asking for a status update since the projected two to four weeks had long passed.

In the July 19 email, Williams copied various news outlets, Broad + Liberty included, and PDE sent a letter later that day notifying him that the department was initiating an investigation.

“We have determined that the allegations set forth in the complaint, if found to be true, are sufficient to warrant discipline and we will now conduct a preliminary investigation.”

Williams believes that this is a parental rights and civil liberties issue.

He said, “when a parent of children who attend Pennsylvania public schools informs school officials that the enforcement of certain policies is causing actual harm to children and demands to know the source of the authority the government is relying on to enforce policies that are causing harm, that parent is entitled to a response setting forth the exact source of legal authority. I never got that response and, instead, I was treated like a pariah for asking. Then, when the Supreme Court declared that Pennsylvania schools never had the legal authority to enforce those policies, district policy 906 and the RTKL give me the right to figure out why my concerns were ignored and to ensure that it never happens again. Instead of granting me the transparency and accountability I am entitled to under the law, Dr. Sanville, the school board, and its solicitor (government actors) are denying my right to due process and equal protection under the law.”

Williams said that like many parents, he started paying closer attention during the extended school closures and that is how he uncovered unlawful surveys administered in the school which the district eventually acknowledged a year after he raised the issue.

It remains to be seen whether the PDE investigation will determine that the allegations are true and whether disciplinary action will be taken or is warranted. Williams, however, is committed to holding the superintendent and district accountable for their actions. In addition to the educator misconduct complaint, he has filed complaints with the United States Department of Education for the pupil privacy violations and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General for civil rights violations. Finally, he has a petition pending before the Chester County Court of Common Pleas regarding the district’s alleged bad faith abuse of the Right to Know Law.

Parents in several Delaware Valley school districts have complained about their children being exposed to a “woke” gender agenda and explicitly sexual books and materials in their classrooms.

Now critics are pointing to materials from the state Department of Education under Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf that appear to make it look like a top-down effort.

For example, the DOE website lists genders as “ne, ve, ze/zie and xe,” as well as “he/him, she/her” that they label “traditional.”

State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor, called out the Wolf administration and is touting bills he’s introduced to empower parents and end these programs.

“Once again, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration skirts the legislative process to implement a far-left agenda behind the backs of the 13 million Pennsylvanians,” Mastriano said in a statement. “These guidelines encourage school districts to proselytize radical ideas about gender identity to children in all grades, all under the guise of school safety.

“The department touts the left’s twisted vernacular as objective fact, while the governor’s Democratic allies demonize parents as too bigoted to teach their own children about these sensitive topics,” Mastriano said. “We can teach kids to be tolerant, accepting, and kind to others – no matter what – without indoctrinating an entire generation.”

Mastriano said he stands behind several Senate-led bills to prioritize and empower parental involvement in our public education system, alert families about explicit material available in school libraries and limit formal conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation to middle and high school curriculum only.

He also introduced legislation earlier this year to establish a Parental Bill of Rights. It would give families statutory rights to “direct the upbringing of their children free from bureaucratic overreach,” the release said.

“Our schools need to focus on closing the learning gaps that worsened as a result of the governor’s ill-advised pandemic school closures, not forcing elementary-age children to engage in inappropriate conversations about gender identity,” Mastriano said. “It is up to parents, not the state, to engage with their children on these complex social issues and I will never stop fighting for their right to do so.”

Casey Smith, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, defended the gender policy. “The children who attend our schools represent the diverse backgrounds and cultures of our commonwealth, and that includes Pennsylvanians with various gender identities and expression. It is incumbent upon us to support all learners and make them all feel welcome in their schools and communities.

“The Wolf administration supports equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts in every school, and one way we can better serve our learners is by providing resources so that schools can support students who come from all walks of life.”

Fenicia Redman, a parent with a son in the Great Valley School District, told DVJournal she believes there is an intentional effort to influence children with an extreme ideology. “There are wolves among our children masquerading as Granny. I’ll see them soon in federal court.” Redman said she plans to sue the district over sexually explicit books found in school libraries.

Jim Jacobs, who took his son out of the West Chester Area School District because of a gay pride celebration at Stetson Middle School that encouraged boys to wear dresses, agrees this is not education.

“I know teachers who tell me personally – in private – they hate this garbage and agenda. But they want to retain their jobs,” Jacobs said. “Everyone I have spoken to, regardless of political party, has a huge issue with this being taught, but they’re afraid of standing up because of repercussions and being canceled. These are our youth coaches, shop owners, and just everyday working Americans who want to live their lives and educate their kids. Its indoctrination on top of indoctrination- how does this get passed to be taught to our children without parents being involved?

“Yes, it’s important to be tolerant and accepting of different religious beliefs and sexual preferences- but introducing this in school for kindergarten, middle school, and high school? Insanity,” said Jacobs.

The  Central Bucks School Board voted last week to keep graphic books out of elementary and middle school libraries.

A campaign spokesman for Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democrat running for governor, did not respond when asked whether Shapiro would keep the Wolf administration policies in place.

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