{"id":8448,"date":"2013-10-23T10:18:53","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T14:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=8448"},"modified":"2013-10-23T15:23:30","modified_gmt":"2013-10-23T19:23:30","slug":"casd-hires-firm-to-investigate-potential-obstructions-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=8448","title":{"rendered":"CASD hires firm to investigate potential obstructions of justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conrad O’Brien to look into claims Ellison stalled DA’s probe
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kyle Carrozza<\/strong><\/span>, Staff Writer, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"CASDConradObrien\"<\/a>CALN \u2013 The Coatesville Area School Board voted to hire the law firm Conrad O\u2019Brien to investigate potential instances of board solicitor James Ellison obstructing the district attorney\u2019s ongoing investigation of the school district at its meeting on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

The decision comes after Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan called for the appointment of independent counsel in a statement released on Monday. In the statement, Hogan said that because his office is investigating Ellison and his law firm, Rhoads & Sinon, a conflict of interests exists with Ellison\u2019s firm providing legal counsel for the district.<\/p>\n

School Board President Neil Campbell said that the appointment was made in order to help the district move forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order for us to actually move forward and try to heal going forward, I think it\u2019s in the best interest to bring on this firm to help us with the DA\u2019s office and so forth. We want to cooperate. This is the first step in us trying to cooperate properly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Campbell said that Ellison is still the board\u2019s solicitor.<\/p>\n

In other district news, the board voted to consider the purchase the Citadel Federal Credit Union at 3030 Zinn Road in Thorndale.<\/p>\n

The building would replace the Benner Administration Building as the district\u2019s administration building, provide a health-care center for district employees, and potentially have other uses. Campbell said that the district could open up a community center, for example.<\/p>\n

Board members said that the building, valued at $2 million, would save the district $500,000 per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis building offers a whole lot more opportunity than where we\u2019re situated right now,\u201d said Campbell.<\/p>\n

The board\u2019s decision to consider the purchase allows district employees to visit the building and examine it for themselves.<\/p>\n

The school board tabled a motion opposing the Common Core Standards State Initiative.<\/p>\n

Common Core establishes new graduation standards, including the Keystone Exams, new curriculum, and protocols for assessing students. Since its adoption by the State Board of Education in 2010, the set of practices has been a divisive topic among politicians and citizens, who argue it takes local control away from school boards. Proponents say it establishes a basic set of standards nationwide for students and teachers.<\/p>\n

Tuesday night\u2019s decision would have approved a resolution against Common Core, but board members decided to table the resolution to allow them more time to reexamine the language.<\/p>\n

During his Board President\u2019s report, Campbell clarified the cost of the District 1 Football Championship rings purchased earlier this year. He said that the rings cost $225 per ring, and 86 rings were purchased. $11,000 of the $19,335 total has been paid so far through a combination of fund-raising and the student activities fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo taxpayers\u2019 money has been paid for these rings, and they will not be paid with taxpayers\u2019 money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Much of Tuesday night\u2019s meeting was taken up by more public comment from citizens disapproving of the district\u2019s recent actions.<\/p>\n

Allen Foster called for the district to seek more outside input. Foster voiced his distrust for the board\u2019s decision to hire Reclamere, the data firm hired by the school district to protect records in light of the texting scandal. He said that the board should have left the decision to an outside group.<\/p>\n

John Reid, the district\u2019s Director of Pupil Services\/Data Assessment and president of the Act 93 Certified Administrators of the district requested that the board meet with the district\u2019s Act 93 Certified Administrators to discuss the current state of affairs of the district. The board said that the meeting would happen this week or next week.<\/p>\n

Erin Scheivert and John Carlson both voiced their concern that the district has not had any public displays renouncing the actions of former Superintendent Richard Como and former Athletic Director Jim Donato.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the power to make the decisions, and your decision-making sucks right now,\u201d said Scheivert. She said it was disgraceful that, at Friday night\u2019s football game, West Chester Henderson took the time to acknowledge the wrongdoings of Como and Donato, but Coatesville has not.<\/p>\n

Carlson agreed. A former pastor, Carlson offered to lead a moment of prayer or reflection at a Coatesville home game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conrad O’Brien to look into claims Ellison stalled DA’s probe By Kyle Carrozza, Staff Writer, The Times CALN \u2013 The Coatesville Area School Board voted to hire the law firm Conrad O\u2019Brien to investigate potential instances of board solicitor James Ellison obstructing the district attorney\u2019s ongoing investigation of the school district at its meeting on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[166,476,29,3003,2921],"class_list":["post-8448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-board-of-education","tag-chester-county-district-attorney-tom-hogan","tag-coatesville-area-school-district","tag-conrad-obrien","tag-rhoads-sinon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}