Related to the Federal Complaint filed against school board officials acting in their private person capacity, the School Board President is alleging that the School Board officials are protected by taxpayer monies to fund their legal defense. The Plaintiff is NOT SUING the School District as that is an entity. The School Board officials violated their oath and were acting in their individual capacity after being repeatedly warned of well established Law.
The Octorara School Board is functioning in reckless disregard of the Law when approving legal invoices for a private legal matter. Only ONE school board member is on the record in objecting to this financial impropriety. All attempts to obtain confirmation that the board has been granted Qualified Immunity protection have been ignored.
School Board Member, Anthony Falgiatore read a statement onto the record at Octorara Area School Board Meeting on 11/21/2022 and reaffirmed the same objection on 1/16/2023.
“Based on a statement read into the record on 10/17/22 by Brian Fox, I began to have concerns about
Anthony Falgiatore – OSD School Board Member
the legal bills. office was submitting billing to the district for private legal matters involving private legal issues. I will be objecting to approving this invoice for legal services pending a receipt of documentation from the solicitor that confirms the board has been granted qualified immunity by the federal court. If the board receives this document, I am willing to reconsider my objection. While the board wants to hold this conversation in executive session, it is in good faith and on behalf of our constituents that I object to this expense. The board can pay this expense on their own and if documentation from the court is received, we can vote to reimburse those specific board members.”
Resulting from concerns of Sunshine Act Violations precluding public access to public documents along with Board Member and Citizen Concerns about the allegation of misappropriating taxpayer funds on a private legal matter, the Office of Inspector General has been notified.
Accountability and transparency of our elected officials requires We The People to provide oversight and hold them accountable to their Oath to the Constitution and the Laws of the land.