Penn Manor school board voted 5-4 against placing a contract with religious liberties law firm Independence Law Center on its voting agenda Monday.
Board President Joseph Fullerton and board members Matthew Beakes, Dell Jackson, Mitchell Sweigart and Christopher Straub voted against considering a contract with the firm, while board Vice President Nickole Nafziger and members Frederick Herr, Anthony Lombardo and Donna Wert voted in favor of considering the firm.
When asked for his opinion, district Superintendent Phil Gale, advised the board to continue working with the current district solicitor, Jeff Litts, of the Lancaster-based Saxton & Stump.
“It is important to seek guidance when we are developing any policies,” Gale said. “Our district has a longstanding relationship with our firm’s solicitor. ... It’s a battle-tested firm; they have provided us with a strong legal counsel that has been supported by law court rulings and regulations that we have to follow.”
READ: Penn Manor school board mulls working with Independence Law Center
Gale’s recommendation was met by a long-standing applause from many of the over 100 residents who filled Penn Manor High School’s large instructional room Monday night, using every seat and standing along the room’s perimeter.
Several times applause by the crowd continued as Fullerton repeatedly banged his gavel on the table, calling for decorum. At one point, he even threatened to recess the meeting.
When Fullerton initially expressed that he did not wish to enter into agreement with the Independence Law Center — a statement also met with applause — he told the audience before him he was not seeking applause.
“I’m sad that we’re here; I’m sad for everyone sitting here that has applauded one way or another,” Fullerton said before the board’s vote. “We’re gonna make a decision and then we’re gonna move forward as a board and then we’re going to move forward taking care of our community one student at a time.”
Fullerton said he wasn’t thrilled when board members had approached him the idea of hearing a presentation from Independence Law Center attorney Jeremy Samek.
The Independence Law Center is a Harrisburg-based firm that has worked with typically Republican-dominated school boards to craft policies on student access to library books and rules for transgender students’ use of restrooms and locker rooms.
The center is the legal arm of the Pennsylvania affiliate for the Family Research Council, which is designated as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that works to fight intolerance and ensure civil rights. Board members in other Lancaster County school districts have cast criticisms of the law firm off as misinformation.
Herr discredited the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “money-grubbing slander machine.”
READ: What school districts are working with religious liberties law firm, Independence Law Center?
Wert introduced Samek to the board for his presentation and had been the one listed on the agenda as presenting the Independence Law Center as an option for special counsel.
Samek said districts have been seeking input from the Independence Law Center for assistance in Title IX compliance, curriculum transparency and female sports. Title IX is the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination.
The Biden administration last month added new protections for public school students based on sexual orientation and gender identity, part of an overhaul to the law that also added rights for victims of sexual assault on college campuses.
The new federal rules contain much stronger protections for transgender students, and schools that restrict a student’s preferred pronouns or what restrooms they use may run afoul of the new laws. However, they do not weight in on the issue of transgender athletes’ rights.
“As a school board your job is to help to try to find a way to serve all the families of this district,” Samek said. “And that can be difficult when you’re navigating difficult issues when sometimes things are in flux.”
Reading from a prepared speech, Lombardo expressed interest in creating policies for what restrooms a transgender student would use or whether a transgender student would play on a boys or girls sports team.
“I am fully aware of the inflammatory nature of this topic, and I know that a lot of people right now are not willing to address it,” Lombardo said. “It would certainly be more comfortable to ignore it or to just handle it we always have been.”
A handful of residents who said they would have been in favor of the district working with the Independence Law Center encouraged the district to create such policies.
“I’m disappointed because I feel that what happened this evening happened because of a lack of courage,” said resident Keith Kauffman. “It’s really simple — they (the ILC) have expertise.”
At least six residents thanked the board members who voted against working with the Independence Law Center and voiced concerns that the firm pushes anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
Trent Soto, a kindergarten teacher at Hambright Elementary School who uses they/them pronouns, said members of the Penn Manor Education Association attended the meeting to make a statement against working with the center.
“As a queer Hispanic person, I’ve experienced many forms of discrimination and prejudice in my life, and it never stops,” Soto said. “I’m a teacher in this district, and I am not going anywhere. I will continue to reach out to all of you because I will continue to oppose what the ILC stands for.”
Public comment was ongoing as of 9:30 p.m., the LNP | LancasterOnline’s print deadline.
Want alerts sent to your inbox when news breaks? Sign up for our free Breaking News newsletter here.
