Court won’t hear Farrell school board’s appeal

Staff report

farrell, pa.

A court ruling that the school board improperly fired former high-school principal Lee McFerren will stand because the state Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled in April that the school board should not have fired McFerren in the middle of his five-year contract.

The Supreme Court decided Tuesday to deny a petition for an appeal, court documents show.

McFerren was fired in July 2008 by a 7-2 school board vote after five days of hearings from March to May that charged him with persistent negligence of duties, willful failure to comply with school rules, willful neglect of duties, immorality and intemperance.

He appealed his firing to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the department upheld the firing.

The Commonwealth Court reversed the department’s affirmation, finding that McFerren’s actions didn’t rise to levels of seriousness required by the Public School Code, which protects professionals from midterm contract terminations.

McFerren was a controversial figure who angered teachers by yelling at them and at students.

He made a statement to a student who used profanity that “the white man will kick your a--” for swearing in the real world, which was the basis for the immorality charge. The court said, however, that “white man” in that context meant “society.”

The court said raising his voice toward students or teachers didn’t constitute intemperance, which it defined as “a loss of self- control that is extreme, violent or severe.”

The court found that charges of leaving the building for lunch without telling the superintendent or changing class periods from seven to eight a day without telling the school board didn’t constitute willful neglect of rules or duties.

McFerren’s attorney, Barbara Ochs, was not available to comment Friday.

Superintendent Lora Adams-King did not return a call to comment.

The district replaced McFerren with Adams-King, who went on to become superintendent in June.