POTTSVILLE, SCHUYLKILL COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A charter school in Schuylkill County is filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against the administration of the Pottsville Area School District.
Representatives from Gillingham Charter School in Pottsville, say their students were denied entrance to a recent college fair for county schools.
22 teachers and students claim their rights were violated.
Representatives from the charter school claim they were threatened by the administration of the Pottsville Area School District for exercising their right to free speech and assembly.
Students say they felt embarrassed and intimidated.
"It made all of us feel very unwelcomed and embarrassed. It was very embarrassing to all of us," Gillingham Charter School student Makayla Bruck said.
"Why as public school students were we not allowed it just makes no sense to me," said Gillingham Charter School Student Connor Czarick.
Students from Gillingham Charter School in Pottsville describe their feelings as they walked through an empty Schuylkill County Regional College Fair.
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Gillingham staff says their students were invited, then disinvited by the administration from the Pottsville Area School District, who was hosting the event.
After consulting with their legal team, Gillingham staff says they believed they still had every right to attend.
But when they arrived, they claim they were turned away, threatened with arrests, and unlawfully detained.
"We went in and we tried to go around to the other tables and we hear over the loudspeakers that all the representatives have to go upstairs and we were just confused," Czarick explained.
Pottsville area administration soon making an announcement for any college representatives and students to vacate the main floor.
"So all the representatives were going upstairs and we're just walking around to empty tables and we had no one to ask questions about our future we couldn't talk to anyone it was just, it was embarrassing," Czarick continued.
The lawsuit claims students and teachers were "Subjected to unnecessary force, verbal intimidation, and public humiliation at the hands of the Pottsville Area School District defendants simply for attending" the fair," and that "The Pottsville Area School District defendants allowed their personal animosity towards Gillingham and its students/teachers to prevail."
The Pottsville Area School District and Gillingham Charter School have a longstanding history of conflict with one another.
The law firm representing the Pottsville Area School District gave 28/22 news the following comments about the lawsuit:
The complaint is rife with false and inaccurate statements.The complaint has no legal merit and standing of many of the plaintiffs is questionable.The complaint improperly attempts to rehash old grievances over charter compliance issues.The College Fair was not open to the public but was by invitation only to school districts of Schuylkill IU29.
John E. Freund, III, Esquire with King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul LLC
You can read the full lawsuit below.
GCS-Civil-Rights-Lawsuit-vs-PASD-Employees-10.22.24Download
