Leftist takeover of Pennsylvania school district results in conflict, upheaval

The takeover of a county school district in Pennsylvania by a group of hard-leftists has sent the district reeling with corruption and insider dealing, opponents have charged.

Two Republican members of the Central Bucks County School District (CBCSD) resigned shortly after the progressive takeover of the board, saying, in part, that the new leftist majority improperly hired an attorney for the district who has several professional conflicts of interest.

One resigning member also alleges “an attempted blackmail communication” by attorney David Conn “in order to coerce or manipulate the outcome of a current legal matter,” which she claims could constitute “felony extortion.”

“For the record, my resignation does not stem from the endless character [assassinations] by fellow Board members or media outlets, but rather from the highbinding, corruption, and ethical violations I have had to unfortunately witness from the Board majority and District solicitor David Conn,” one of the former board members, Debra T. Cannon, wrote in a letter explaining her resignation.

Conn’s engagement as solicitor for the district was controversial, said opponents because, in addition to the conflicts of interest, Conn advised the board to violate Sunshine Act rules in making board policy, including the approval of his contract.   

Conn, whose mostly inactive X social media account describes him as a “progressive solicitor,” previously represented three of the newly elected Democrat members of the school board during the recount in the November 2023 election. 

Conflicts of interest can arise when an attorney has acted as a lawyer for individual board members and then later represents the board.  

Conn’s wife also is a key witness in a case filed against CBCSD by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania on behalf of a teacher who was terminated for allegedly failing to properly report bullying of an LGBTQ student.  

Conn’s wife was represented in the case by the same lawyer representing the teacher who filed suit against the district, says the resignation letter of Lisa K. Sciscio, who quit the CBCSD board with Cannon.    

The district claims the teacher manufactured the situation in order to file a civil rights case against the district – which, under the previous Republican board, banned gay pride flags, prohibited pronoun changes without parental notification, stopped trans participation in girls’ sports and required teachers to practice neutrality and refrain from indoctrinating students ideologically. 

The first act of the new Democrat board was to suspend those policies, reports local website TAPinto.net in Doylestown – even though the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that critics said the board failed to follow the requirement under sunshine laws to give previous notice those topics would be on the agenda.  

Solicitor Conn claimed the issues under consideration were de minimis, a legal term meaning so inconsequential they require no notification. But a lawsuit filed against CBCSD on behalf of two Bucks County residents by attorney Chadwick Schnee, an expert on open government issues, disagrees.  

“None of the policies are de minimis in nature, as they all address important societal issues concerning the content of educational materials, library books, the alleged indoctrination of children and the athletic participation of transgender athletes,” the lawsuit says, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.  

Critics argue the policies could have been changed at the subsequent board meeting after proper public notification.  

Sciscio charges Conn has “directed … every move” of the new progressive school board.  

“From these actions, it appears Mr. Conn prioritizes his personal and political vendettas over the needs of our district,” writes Cannon.  

Critics have made similar charges of putting ideology over education against the new school board president, Karen Smith.  

“New Central Bucks School Board Democrat president and transgender activist, Karen Smith, chose to be sworn-in with her hand on a stack of books that included controversial books with sexually explicit content,” says a post on X.  

The photo of Smith’s swearing in shows one of the books to be Flamer, one of the most commonly removed books from public schools and libraries across the nation because of its explicit sexual content targeting children.  

This isn’t the first time Conn has been accused of having a conflict of interest in a case involving his wife, or not adequately disclosing the conflict.   

His wife, Marlene Pray, runs the Rainbow Room, a Planned Parenthood LGBTQ youth center in Doylestown, which is why Pray is testifying against CBCSD in the ACLU case, said critics.  

In 2013, Conn represented Pray, while they were dating, in a dispute over whether Pray was eligible to continue to serve on the Doylestown Council because she moved from the ward she represented, reported PhillyBurbs.com.  

Doylestown’s laws were ambiguous on the subject, experts concluded. But at the time, Conn also served as solicitor for Doylestown’s Council. And as solicitor for the council, he issued an opinion that Pray could continue to serve as long as she intended to move back into the ward prior to running for reelection, reports PhillyBurbs.  

Pray later resigned the seat after residents continued to question if she could properly represent the ward when living in another ward.   

When Conn was hired in 2008 as Doylestown solicitor, there were charges of insider-dealing similar to those made at CBCSD.  Democrats in Doylestown followed a process that failed to advertise the position and only interviewed one candidate – Conn – reports The Reporter Online.   

Cannon warned that CBCSD’s hiring of Conn could result in the loss of insurance coverage for the district in the civil rights case because Conn failed to report his conflict of interest to the insurer when he made an appearance on behalf of the district in the case.  

“I believe after careful review that it has become evident that Mr. Conn is compromised by conflicts of interest and has engaged in behavior that compromises the integrity and impartiality of legal representation for Central Bucks School District,” said Cannon.  

As to the extortion claim, it’s unclear what communications happened between Cannon and Conn to create the accusation, but the Cannon resignation letter and press reports quoting Conn indicate it has something to do with communications made in executive session, which is where school boards often deal with legal and personnel issues.   

For Cannon and Sciscio, the personal liability of remaining on a school board they believe is knowingly violating the law was apparently too much.   

“I will not sit by idle and watch these same individuals set the fire and complain about the smoke, and then be held personally accountable,” writes Cannon.  

The Lion reached out to David Conn for comment prior to publication.