West Shore SD vice president: Tweaking new lawyer deal is chance for ‘all nine of us to work together’
YORK and CUMBERLAND COUNTIES, Pa. (WHTM) — Could the very legal services deal that has divided the West Shore School District be part of the first chance to heal divisions between the five board members who approved the deal and the four who vigorously opposed it?
That’s one possibility Kelly Brent — the board’s vice president and a member of the majority who voted to approve the deal in a meeting where the other four members and almost everyone who packed the room opposed it — raised in an interview during which she agreed to answer questions four board members, parents and other community members accused the majority of dodging before and during the meeting.
Opposing board members have said the new agreement has fewer protections than the old one.
Brent said the district “will not be double-billed” and can still tweak the agreement.
“It’s very possible that we’re going to do a little bit of amendment on the engagement letter,” Brent said. “And I think that would be a great opportunity for us to all work together on the board — all nine of us to work together.”
The party breakdown of the board — seven Republicans, two Democrats — didn’t change after last November’s election. But some longtime board members and critics accuse the board’s president, Heidi Thomas, and new board members of working secretly to pursue a far-right agenda.
Addressing other criticisms and questions critics said had gone answered, Brent also said:
She doesn’t question that the firm’s now-former solicitor, Brooke Say of the firm Stock and Leader, is an excellent lawyer, but “she just had a great working relationship with all of the people there, which is terrific. But we didn’t feel like we [the new majority] had a voice.”
She wanted to solicit bids from multiple law firms rather than simply choosing one: “I wanted to be collaborative. I wanted to include everyone. But the more I tried to include and keep the processes inclusive, the more things were being delayed.” Brent said other board members were causing the delays because they didn’t want to change firms.
Why the urgency to approve the new solicitor — Kevin Hall of Tucker Arensberg PC– last week? “It’s so that we as a group — we as a board — can put this behind us and have it settle down so we can all focus on the most important thing, which is the budget” process in May.
What about Hall’s lack of experiencing representing school boards? “He has what’s necessary to help us get through meetings. And then he has an entire firm of many, many attorneys who are specialists in education.” The prospect of having to pay extra for that support had worried critics, prompting Brent’s assurance that the district “will not be double-billed.”
How did Brent and other board members identify Hall as their choice? “The night we were sworn in, we received probably ten business cards from ten law firms” anticipating a possible change, Brent said. “But this gentleman did follow up, and he happened to follow up in a timely manner.” She said one solicitor search committee meeting was — from her perspective — particularly unproductive. Hall happened to call the next day, she said. “And he lives in the school district, so he’s been following the process. And I picked up the phone and he simply said, ‘do you want to talk?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And it went from there.”
How could five board members have concluded Hall was their pick without meeting secretly — and in possible violation of Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act? “We never got together. We never sat together,” Brent said. “We never were on a group call or a Zoom meeting of any kind. We did not violate sunshine laws…. I know that if I talked to one person, then I’m okay.”
But how could she and others have known that without the advice of a solicitor, considering Say wouldn’t have advised them and they hadn’t yet hired Hall? “To become a board member, you have to take a class once you’re elected,” Brent said. “And that’s one of the first things they review, the sunshine law.”
Board members in the minority blame the new majority for all the acrimony. But although members disagree intensely about whose fault that acrimony is, nearly all have said one thing Brent said.
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“I think we’re all on the same page when it comes to the children,” she said. “And we can’t get to the kids because of all of this infighting.”
Previous coverage
West Shore school board votes to end relationship with law firm
West Shore school board member ‘shocked’ president planned to fire solicitor without committee input
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