Democrats considering legal challenge to Central Bucks superintendent’s $700,000 severance package

Democrats who will take control of the Central Bucks school board next month are looking to challenge the $700,000 buyout the current GOP majority awarded to Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh in an abrupt severance deal earlier this week.

“We have a duty to pursue all avenues in regards to this severance agreement, including legal avenues,” Karen Smith, a Democrat who was reelected in the recent Democratic sweep of the board, said Thursday.

A lawyer representing the four newly elected Democrats notified the current board members ahead of Tuesday’s vote that the agreement violated a cap on severance payments to superintendents under Pennsylvania law.

The lawyer, Brandon Flynn, warned of “serious consequences for current board members who support this egregious misuse of taxpayer dollars,” in a letter to the outgoing board.

Flynn added: “The new board will be expected to utilize all available remedies to protect the school district.”

Dana Hunter, the current board president, didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Here’s what’s next for the Central Bucks board and the controversy around the superintendent’s departure:

A longtime Central Bucks administrator who started his career as a teacher in the Hatboro-Horsham school district, Lucabaugh spent 11 years as principal of Central Bucks East High School before becoming assistant superintendent in 2018.

He was elevated to superintendent in 2021, at a time when Pennsylvania’s third-largest school district was still embroiled in debate about school masking policies and facing a contentious school board election. That fall, Republicans cemented their majority on the board.

Lucabaugh soon became seen as an ally of the new board and its agenda, which mirrored a broader conservative movement targeting public schools’ handling of such issues as gender and sexuality.

In response to parents upset that staff members had been asked to take down Pride flags, Lucabaugh said last year, “I can tell you right now, hanging a flag doesn’t do anything to keep a kid safe,” adding that classrooms “absolutely need to be apolitical.” The board later passed a policy banning staff “advocacy” on “political, partisan, or social policy issues.”

He was also supportive of the board’s policy last year prohibiting “sexualized content” in library books, which the district implemented with the help of a Harrisburg legal group focused on religious freedom.

Administrators initiated reviews of five books following the policy’s passage, with Lucabaugh saying that “to pretend that we don’t know that graphic, illustrated, highly descriptive sexualized content is in some books, would be akin to looking the other way.”

Two of the books — Gender Queer and This Book Is Gay — have since been removed from Central Bucks libraries, while an additional 60 challenges have been pending.

Repeatedly pledging to guard against the sexualization of children, Lucabaugh told critics at a school board meeting this summer that there was “absolutely no reason for anyone to engage students in conversations about their sexual habits, their sexual preferences or their sexual orientation.”

“If you think it’s acceptable, this is your notice. I’m going to come for you,” he said.

After a heated election, Democrats on Nov. 7 won all five open seats on the Central Bucks school board. Six days later, the separation agreement for Lucabaugh appeared on the agenda for the current school board’s last meeting.

Dana Hunter, the board president, said that Lucabaugh and the district were parting ways now because Democrats would fire him upon taking over.

But Democrats expressed outrage at the terms of the agreement, which passed, 6-3, along party lines and took effect Tuesday night.

The agreement gives Lucabaugh a $315,000 lump sum payment — matching his current salary, which the board increased by 40% this past summer. (At the time, Republican board members said the salary hike was necessary to retain Lucabaugh.)

It also provides close to $300,000 for unused sick and vacation days, and $50,000 as a “settlement agreement” to resolve any claims related to Lucabaugh’s employment, including “allegations made by Dr. Lucabaugh of a pattern of harassment that undermined his ability to carry out the functions of his job and contributed to an environment of incivility and hostility during his tenure.”

According to the lawyer for the incoming board members, no.

Flynn, in his letter to board members, said the agreement violated a law passed in 2012 after outrage about former Philadelphia superintendent Arlene Ackerman’s more than $900,000 buyout. That law capped severance payments at one year’s salary and benefits to superintendents with more than two years left on their contracts. (In getting the 40% raise this summer, Lucabaugh was awarded a new five-year contract.)

But there are other issues, Flynn said — including the timing of the deal, which was made public only a day before Tuesday’s meeting. Flynn said the agreement “improperly binds the successor board,” citing case law deeming last-minute contracts to be “a particularly egregious violation of public policy.”

He noted provisions in the agreement specifying that “Dr. Lucabaugh has not acted wrongfully,” and the district “shall not initiate any investigation into Dr. Lucabaugh.” The agreement also mandates the future board to echo what Flynn called an “overly rosy statement” in any public comment about Lucabaugh — commending Lucabaugh’s “extraordinary leadership” and crediting him with having “always stayed above the fray.”

It’s unclear who drafted the agreement; the district’s solicitor, Jeffrey Garton, said earlier this week that he saw the agreement only Tuesday morning.

Central Bucks has been waging other significant legal battles over the last two years. The district faces bills estimated at more than $1 million for Duane Morris, the law firm it hired to address allegations still under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education that it created a hostile environment for LGBTQ students.

It also has been defending against a pay equity lawsuit involving more than 360 current and former female teachers. A settlement demand issued by the women earlier this fall would cost the district $119 million; the district’s lawyer has said he has seen no evidence of illegal discrimination.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Flynn warned the board that if it approved the agreement for Lucabaugh, it “risks once again launching itself into a potentially protracted, expensive battle that will only expend additional taxpayer dollars” and take the focus away from educating students.