More Legal Troubles for Centennial

Months prior to the against the district by Donna Dunar, former Assistant Superintendent of Schools Sandy Homel also filed a federal lawsuit against Centennial School District. 

Homel worked for the district since 1997, when she was hired as the Director of Secondary Education.

The complaint filed with the court alleges that in Jan. 2010, when Homel was serving as assistant superintendent of schools under Thomas Turnbaugh, she was handed a letter notifying her she had been "terminated without cause," and she had just a few hours to hand in her keys and vacate school district property.

The suit alleges that she was removed from her position due to gender bias and in retribution for filing complaints; lawyers for Centennial argue Homel was placed on “administrative leave with pay” and “her contract end[ed] by its own terms June 30, 2011.

In an interview earlier this week, School Board President Andrew Pollock said he could not speak about why Homel was put on administrative leave in Jan. 2010, saying it was district policy not to discuss personnel matters.

Board Member Cindy Mueller also said she was unable to comment on the lawsuit, but did say, “Sandy did nothing, except for trying to make people honest and do their job.”

In an affidavit filed in the suit, School Board Member Mark Miller makes statements that appear to align with Mueller's assessment.  

"It is my opinion that the decisions not to hire Homel as superintendent, to place her on leave and to terminate her contract had nothing to do with her,” said Miller, in the affidavit. “I believed that she was a hard worker, a dedicated worker and a gifted administrator."

In the affidavit, Miller contends a “deeply divided [school] board” in which the majority believed “she was undermining the authority of the superintendent and had improper ties to the minority faction” is what ultimately caused Homel’s career at Centennial to be ended.

Prior to Centennial's hiring of Turnbaugh, while Homel was serving as the acting superintendent of schools for the district, she had applied for the position of superintendent.

In a deposition for the lawsuit, School Board Vice President Thomas Reinboth said he did not vote for Homel to advance to the position following the resignation of Mike Masko back in 2008, because he

The complaint also alleges that during the time when the search for Masko's replacement was taking place, a board member approached Homel and asked for a special favor.

According to the court documents, School Board Member Jane Schrader Lynch asked Homel to admit an underage grandchild to kindergarten, against school policy.

According to the complaint, Lynch suggested that if Homel did this favor “she would get help in return… words to the effect that ‘You know, you help me and I’ll help you,’ referring to helping [Homel] get the five board votes needed to become superintendent.”

In his deposition, Reinboth said Homel did report the request for a favor to him, but that the matter was never investigated.

According to the court documents, "[Homel] complied with law and school policy, and politely declined to allow favoritism of the underage child for early admission. The Board member did not support her promotion to Superintendent."

Following the hire of Turnbaugh, Homel resumed her role as the district's assistant superintendent.

In his deposition Reinboth said "in executive session in January of 2010 the board voted to remove her" from her role as assistant superintendent for not being supportive of

According to court paperwork, she was put on "involuntary paid leave," with no prior public vote from the school board, in Jan. 2010. This paid leave lasted until last month, when her contract expired.

In a filing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Homel asserts she had "never received a negative rating" during her 14-year tenure with the district.

Last week, in a last-minute add on to the meeting agenda, Centennial’s School Board of Directors publicly acknowledged the case for the first time by approving a motion to waive attorney-client privilege in regard to a string of emails. 

According to the court documents, these emails contain correspondence between CSD attorney Ben Pratt, School Board Members Thomas Reinboth, Andrew Pollock and Jane Schrader Lynch and former Superintendent of Schools Thomas Turnbaugh. 

Homel's attorney requested the emails and Centennial's lawyers submitted copies to the court, but the submission had several portions redacted. 

According to court records, these emails were resubmitted to the court, in their entirety, on Monday.

Lawyers for Homel filed the complaint in the US District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in March 2011.

Homel is seeking an award in excess of $150,000 for each of the five counts detailed in the suit.

The case is scheduled for a pretrial conference on Tuesday, August 30 with the trial tentatively set to start January 19, 2012.

The lawyers on both sides of the case did not respond to requests for comment.

To read more about Sandy Homel's case against Centennial, see .