Religious discrimination charges at U-CF

The complaints are piling up against the Unionville- Chadds Ford School District, its board and administration. Two complaints had already been filed with the state, a third was sent directly to the superintendent and school board, and now a fourth, alleging religious discrimination, was filed with the U.S. Department of Education.

Chad Williams of Birmingham Township, who filed the first two and the most recent, said in an email that he believes the state Department of Education may have been complicit in district wrongdoings and that the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office has a conflict of interest in the matter.

Williams’ most recent complaint, filed by Pacific Justice Institute lawyer Janice Lorrah, alleges the district has violated Williams’ right to due process and alleges religious discrimination.

“The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District has an established pattern and practice of discriminating against Christian parents,” and that “[Williams] was denied the opportunity to obtain and inspect certain public records or even speak with school officials, thus denying him his fundamental parental rights to raise and nurture his children, including the right to protect his children from teachings hostile to his family’s Christian faith,” the complaint says.

Chadds Ford Live contacted the school district’s solicitor Mark Fitzgerald for comment, but there was no response by press time.

In an email to Chadds Ford Live, Williams said his goal with this latest complaint is the same as his earlier complaints to the state — transparency and accountability.

“Unionville officials — [Superintendent John] Sanville, Fox Rothschild [the district’s law firm], [Finance Director Joseph] Deady, [school board director Jeff] Hellrung and other school board members — have repeatedly lied and violated the law. They have retaliated against and threatened me. Now they are using taxpayer resources to try to cover up their misconduct… [T]he relief I am seeking is a fair and impartial investigation by the U.S. DoE, a public report detailing everything, and discipline/enforcement against those who violated the law.”

He added that he was informed by the state’s Attorney General’s office that it has an “unexplained conflict of interest and cannot investigate the state law complaints against Unionville and its officials.”

Williams said he believes the AG’s position may suggest that the state Department of Education “is possibly implicated in some of the violations of law in Unionville, but we don’t know for sure because the OAG has not explained the nature of the conflict.”

He added that he has evidence that officials in the state Department of Education “advised Unionville officials to intentionally violate the law.”

Williams said he filed the complaint with the federal government because only federal agencies can perform an independent investigation.

His first two complaints, filed in 2022 and 2024, began because Williams was concerned about COVID-related lockdowns and masking requirements in the district. Williams complained to the commonwealth and state Sen. Scott Martin, who was the chairman of the Senate Education Committee at the time. Martin wound up calling the district “arrogant.” [See here, and here.]

His second complaint, filed last year, is over a survey of ninth graders regarding their sexuality that was given by a self-described “queer witch” who was part of the Crime Victims Center. That survey violated district policy because it was administered without parental knowledge or approval. [See here.]

A third complaint, filed last week by Chadds Ford Township resident Mark Stookey and signed by about 100 people, according to Stookey, was sent directly to Superintendent of Schools John Sanville and to the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board directors.

Stookey’s complaint, titled Formal Complaint Under Board Policy 906: Patton Middle School, alleges the district failed to provide a proper analysis of the plan to build a new middle school. It opens:

“We assert that the district has failed to adequately analyze the proposed Project to renovate or replace the Charles F. Patton Middle School. The board has failed to conduct even minimal due diligence on what could be a $120 million expenditure, by far the largest single investment in the history of the district. The studies, data, and analyses used by the board and submitted to the public are grossly incomplete, misleading, and biased. They are blatantly incorrect in many important respects.

“The Board and Administration are acting in bad faith and are ignoring detailed questions and recommendations on how to correct obvious mistakes in the analysis that have been submitted in good faith by qualified financial experts who are also resident taxpayers.”

Those complaints have been raised during several board meetings and became louder and at times strident since the Jan.6 meeting during which Sanville gave his recommendation to build a new school instead of maintaining or renovating the current building.

Sanville responded to a query from Chadds Ford Live that he sent the complaint to the board for its consideration.

School Board President Victoria Baratta responded in a similar fashion when Chadds Ford Live contacted her.

“The complaint has been received, and the board is following our Board 906 Public Complaints policy. I don’t have any additional comments at this time,” she wrote.

[Anyone interested in reading the full complaint and possibly signing on to it, should send an email to [email protected].]

Sanville announced in an email on Jan. 31 that he is retiring at the end of July.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.