3 Pennsylvania School Districts Take State To Court

My newest piece for the Bucks County Beacon looks at a new lawsuit in PA. Last year the department of education created new Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Education guidelines for teacher training. Now someone wants to go to court over it, and they’re heavy hitters.

The suit is being litigated by The Thomas More Society, a “not-for-profit, national public interest law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, religious liberty, and election integrity.” The firm has worked cases challenging both abortion and birth control, LGBTQ rights, and virtually all pandemic mitigation strategies (not just anti-vax, but also anti-masking, anti capacity limits, and anti social distancing). They helped mount legal challenges to the results of the 2020 Presidential election; they also employed Senior Trump advisor Jenna Ellis as a special counsel. And they mounted the successful challenge to Pennsylvania’s mask mandate. 

For boots on the ground, the Chicago-based firm is using the Western Pennsylvania law firm of Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham. Thomas W. King III of DMKC&G is listed as a special counsel on a page dated October 23, 2020, and Thomas Breth, the other DMKC&G lawyer working the case, has a special counsel page dated from August 17, 2022.

DMKC&G also provides school board solicitor services to numerous districts—including both Mars and Penncrest. King was given time at a Penncrest board meeting to make his pitch to them for joining the suit. At that meeting, King emphasized that joining the suit would involve no cost to the district at all; King explained that The Thomas More Society would be covering all expenses.

Also named as petitioners in the lawsuit are two Laurel School District teachers, nine parents in several districts, a board member from the Knoch School District, and Superintendent Rich.

It’s a long piece, but a curious little side battle in the culture wars. You can read the whole thing here.