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Board continues legal battle with ex-Farrell High principal
By jeanne starmack
farrell, pa.
An ex-principal at Farrell High School who was fired in 2008 wants his job back.
But the school board will try another legal maneuver to keep that from happening.
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled in April that the board didn’t have good reason to fire Lee V. McFerren in the middle of his five-year contract. The school board petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for permission to appeal that ruling, but the high court denied the petition late last month.
The commonwealth court’s decision stands for now, but the board is going to ask the high court to reconsider allowing an appeal, said board solicitor Atty. James Nevant.
“Mr. McFerren is very pleased with the Supreme Court action to allow the commonwealth court decision to be the final word on his fight to regain his job,” said Barbara Ochs, his attorney.
“Yes, he’s always wanted his job back,” she said.
McFerren was fired after five days of hearings from March to May 2008 in which the school board considered charges of persistent negligence of duties, willful failure to comply with school rules, willful neglect of duties, immorality and intemperance.
McFerren appealed his firing to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which upheld the school board. McFerren appealed that decision to the commonwealth court, which decided McFerren’s actions did not rise to the levels of seriousness required by the public school code, which protects professionals from midterm contract terminations.
McFerren was a controversial figure who was accused of yelling at teachers and students and making outlandish statements. During the hearings, some staff testimony painted a picture of a man who was arrogant, unprofessional, demeaning to teachers, and even incompetent in his administrative duties.
In his testimony, McFerren said he saw himself as trying to solve discipline problems, and he was trying to get teachers to stop “acting like they were on vacation.”
The school board, in a statement prepared by lawyers who represented it during the hearings, said this week it is disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision.
“The commonwealth court made a ruling on the law, which is, in our opinion, an aberration and which will not improve public education,” asserts the statement, prepared by Levin Legal Group of Huntingdon Valley, Pa.
“The commonwealth court said that the public school code is intended to protect professional employees from midterm contract termination, except for extraordinary reasons that exceed dissatisfaction with the professional employee’s performance,” it continues. “Never before has any court stated that there must be ‘extraordinary reasons’ for dismissal.”
Nevant said Levin Legal Group will file the new petition with the Supreme Court next week.