A Lehighton Area School District board member has been barred from the district’s high school and administration building for a year, with the exception of attending a school board function or preapproved meeting, after two alleged incidents earlier this month.

The 5-4 vote taken at Monday night’s board meeting also prohibits David Bradley from having direct contact with any district employee while they are on the job unless previously scheduled and approved through the superintendent or business manager.

According to an investigative report filed by Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver, a copy of which was posted on Facebook and circulated by Bradley before Monday’s meeting, Bradley was accused of harassing/bullying a district employee on June 1.

“Mr. Bradley began to berate an employee over the fees associated with his Right To Know request,” Cleaver wrote in the report.

“He then claimed the employee was mishandling his requests, indicating she did not know her job duties and implied her job was in jeopardy. She was told she should seek advice on how to perform her duties. Mr. Bradley also threatened to subpoena the employee if she did not respond to emails he had sent her seeking documents. She refused to engage him in a discussion as his demeanor was threatening to the point of putting her in tears. She was emotionally and visibly upset after the encounter.”

A second incident, Cleaver wrote in his report, occurred June 7.

According to the report, Bradley and fellow director Joy Beers were present at a parent-principal/assistant principal meeting.

“This followed an incident earlier in the day dealing with student discipline and searches of other students that complied with both state and federal law,” Cleaver wrote.

During the meeting, the report continues, Bradley “accused an employee of being prejudiced. Mr. Bradley then stated that the employee gets excited when he conducted searches of the student’s person, implying a sexual inclination of the employee. Mr. Bradley also stated the employee was unethical and questioned his hiring as debate coach because he was a terrible debater. Again, his behavior and demeanor was threatening and put two district employees in physical fear. Both employees were emotionally upset after this encounter.”

On Monday, Bradley denied the accusations and criticized the district for failing to interview additional witnesses.

“I was targeted as a means of public embarrassment,” Bradley said. “This investigation lacked due process. There is no proof of video, audio or additional testimony to back up the claims.”

Student search

The second incident cited in Cleaver’s report dealt with an earlier search of a high school student. The student’s father, Fred Kemmerer Jr., addressed the school board Monday night.

Kemmerer was 100 miles from home, he said, when his son texted him to tell him school officials were “searching his body.”

“As a parent, you feel helpless,” Kemmerer said. “I did a lot of studying and found this is actually something that is allowed to happen. Our kids could go to school and, at any moment, be strip-searched based on allegations.”

Kemmerer defined a strip search as having any article of clothing removed during the search.

“In the end, we have children in our district looking to principals and vice principals as mentors to lead them into adulthood,” he added. “The last memory my son has is being strip searched over a false allegation.”

Kemmerer urged the school board to review its policy regarding searches.

“If it was your son or grandson, you would want to change policy so someone can’t be like the Wild West and do whatever they want,” Kemmerer said.

Bradley said Kemmerer sent all school board members an email inviting them to the meeting he had scheduled with high school officials. Director Rita Spinelli, however, said she didn’t receive the email until after the meeting occurred and others said the email was sent less than an hour before the meeting was to take place.

“From this event, the focus was placed on me and not the serious event that took place within the walls of our public schools,” Bradley said. “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. For a school to miss this teaching moment reflects poorly on our district. Students, in my opinion, were turned into informants against other students. That is wrong and should be stopped.”

Reaction to the ban

Lehighton solicitor William Schwab said based on his review, the district followed policy regarding Bradley’s sanction.

“According to everything I have seen, I wouldn’t consider this action arbitrary or capricious,” Schwab said.

Schwab’s office has already received correspondence from an attorney regarding the matter.

“It was evident that the attorney apparently doesn’t know education law,” Schwab said. “In fact, there were so many mistakes, I wouldn’t even address them all.”

Before the vote, resident Walter Zlomsowitch warned of potential future litigation if the district took the action against Bradley.

He cited a case in Panther Valley School District where John Barna alleged the school board violated his First Amendment rights by banning him from meetings. Barna reportedly made threats against the board.

“Panther Valley has spent a ton of money already on that and it’s still tied up in federal court,” Zlomsowitch told the board. “I seriously hope you don’t put us in harm’s way by voting yes.”

Cleaver said that while Bradley could take legal action as a result of Monday’s motion, the district also could have faced a lawsuit if he didn’t take the claims made by the employees seriously.

“I will do everything in my power to protect our employees if they are being bullied or harassed,” Cleaver said. “They trust in me to do that. Nobody deserves to be harassed, bullied or threatened anytime.”

Spinelli said she met with administration at the high school the day after the meeting in question and “was satisfied everything was handled according to policy.”

Bradley said, “The report was based on statements made by some witnesses to relevant events, but did not include statements from other witnesses which contradict the statements he chose to believe. While that is unfortunate, what’s more unfortunate is the report diverts attention away from the real issue at hand: student safety.”

Past motions concerning Bradley

Earlier this year, the board formally reprimanded Bradley for what it termed “abuse of the district’s email account.”

“The reprimand is for continually using vulgar language, showing a general lack of respect while addressing board members, the superintendent, legal counsel and the Pennsylvania School Board Association’s legal counsel,” Larry Stern said in his motion.

“He uses emails to debate legal issues which incurs a cost to the district. He uses nicknames for our superintendent, PSBA officials, legal counsel and others. His non-fact-based accusations and innuendos are contained in those emails circulated among the board. PSBA has blocked his Lehighton.org email address, which is tied to the district. The abuse has shone a negative light on our community and district.”

The following month, the motion was amended to clarify that there were two specific PSBA employees who “restricted or blocked” Bradley’s email address.

In 2016, before Bradley joined the board, he was banned from making verbal public comment during board meetings.

“We have asked you several times to work within our system and you refuse to do that,” Spinelli told Bradley Monday. “Unless you learn to play well with the rest of the board, you will be sanctioned.”