In the past few months, it has come to light that the Manheim Township School Board in Lancaster, PA has been actively violating the Sunshine Laws. These laws are regulations requiring openness in government and are designed to create transparency between elected officials and the people they serve. The laws make meetings, records, votes, deliberations and other official actions available for public observation, participation and/or inspection.

The first set of violations, which were investigated by the Lancaster County District Attorney, were from May 2015 through December 2015 for executive sessions with little to no disclosure to the public (link below). No charges were filed, but the School Board subsequently openly admitted to violating the law (link below). After this occurred, School Board President, William Murry, issued a written statement which included a promise: “from this point going forward, we will make sure to provide the public more information”.

Immediately after this, on January 28th, the School Board held a closed door session which was recorded by an unknown source and delivered to the Lancaster Newspaper. During this session, William Murry actively and openly coached the board on circumventing the Sunshine Laws. His comments and the comments of other board members showed clear intent to avoid and potentially violate the law and and clear contempt for the transparency expected of them. Additionally, board members stated that they were following the advice of district solicitor Bob Frankhouser, the attorney for the School Board. (link below)

Having served on a number of committees over the years that are subject to Sunshine Laws, it is my firm opinion that, at the very least, William Murry should resign and Bob Frankhouser should be removed as the attorney for the school board, as he has advised the board members on how to circumvent the law. This petition is a vehicle by which we as the Manheim Township residents can potentially compel this to happen. If these individuals do not resign voluntarily, there is a procedure in the school code whereby a certain number of residents can file a petition with the court seeking the removal of a school board member or certain members of the school board who have willfully neglected their duties, including Sunshine Laws. We will require 20% of the voter turnout for the school board election.

We live in Manheim Township, and we pay the taxes that this school board utilizes. We expect our public officials to be honorable and obey the law. These individuals have not lived up to this standard. Please sign this petition if you live in Manheim Township.

Links to pertinent articles:
http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/manheim-township-school-board-s-pattern-of-meeting-behind-closed/article_376f09b8-beec-11e5-b1d3-cbb2c8289432.html

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/manheim-township-school-board-admits-violating-state-sunshine-act-with/article_e30af6c6-c999-11e5-94c8-9b7f94adab0f.html

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/leaked-audio-manheim-township-school-board-conspired-to-deliberate-privately/article_ddef2994-cb44-11e5-9464-374c3bc1dc7d.html

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/key-quotes-from-the-audio-recording-of-a-manheim-township/article_3a04b896-cb4c-11e5-a64c-73d12b446a40.html