Wolk files motion to have Lower Merion school board removed

Arthur Wolk, the man behind the taxpayer lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District, has filed a new petition in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas to have all nine members of the Lower Merion Board of School Directors removed from office and have the court appoint substitutes in their place.

He is also asking the court to prohibit the nine members from running for election for the next five years and that the board members must repay all money the district has paid to the law firm, Driker Biddle and Reath as well as to terminate both that firm and its solicitor, Wisler Pearlstine. Driker, Biddle is the firm hired by the district to represent it in his original tax lawsuit. The district is appealing the case to the State Supreme Court.

In this latest filing, Wolk is not a petitioner. He is instead representing the 18 named Lower Merion and Narberth residents who have signed on to the petition.

“There is a provision in the public school act of 1949 for the removal of school directors if they neglect their duties,” Wolk said as he explained the justification for the latest filing. “And since we have a finding by [Montgomery County] Judge Smyth that they did neglect their duties, I decided that since I can’t get them to discuss a peaceful resolution I decided to file the petition to have them removed.”

In the petition, Wolk cited Joseph Smyth’s order from August of 2016 when he said the district has been illegally raising taxes by claiming budget deficits each year and then ending up with surpluses.

Smyth’s order also said the district had to rescind its 2016 tax hike, lower it by about 2 percent and return the money to the taxpayers. The district has stated it does not have to return the money while the case remains in appeal.

Although this filing is connected to that ongoing suit, the latest petition has been filed as a separate item in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.

Lower Merion officials issued a short response to the suit.

“The District’s counsel only received this Petition late Friday afternoon and has had limited ability to discuss it with the Board. The Petition contains no new allegations that have not been already made in Mr. Wolk’s prior court filings and other public statements from the last year. The facts alleged do not in any way support the removal of a democratically elected school board,” the statement reads.

Along with the issues involving the ongoing tax lawsuit, Wolk is also arguing that some of the board members have been in their positions dating back to the webcam controversy. In February 2010, the district was found to have recorded images of students obtained through the district-issued laptop computers.

As a result, Wolk said the district was forced to pay $600,000, according to his petition.

Wolk is also citing the board’s decision to hire a private law firm to represent the district in the tax lawsuit, Wolk said.

Wolk said since he did not file a suit against the school directors they should not have brought in a private law firm. Or, if they felt they needed the private firm to represent them, they should have gone to their insurance company and ask them for the private counsel.

It’s not clear how long a decision could take on Wolk’s latest filing but if the court sides with him, he is also asking the court to prevent those board members from running again for the next five years.