{"id":8313,"date":"2014-11-27T09:58:59","date_gmt":"2014-11-27T14:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=8313"},"modified":"2014-11-28T10:02:45","modified_gmt":"2014-11-28T15:02:45","slug":"maffei-takes-school-board-seat-as-campbell-mammel-resign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=8313","title":{"rendered":"Maffei takes CASD board seat as Campbell, Mammel resign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Board adds new member, terminates contracts with former Solicitor Ellison<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kyle Carrozza<\/strong>,\u00a0Staff Writer, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Michele Maffei takes the oath of office Tuesday after being appointed to the Coatesville Area School District Board of Education. Image courtesy Facebook.<\/p><\/div>\n

CALN \u2013 Michele Maffei was elected to fill the spot left vacant after board member Kimberly Mammel\u2019s resignation at Tuesday\u2019s school board meeting. In addition, School Board President Neil Campbell resigned before Tuesday\u2019s meeting, and the Board approved a resolution allowing the resignation of former Solicitor James Ellison, who was still in the process of completing legal work from his time as solicitor.<\/p>\n

Maffei said that her children are students in the district, and she has been involved with the schools because of them, which will inform her decision-making while serving on the school board. She said that with the recent changes and new superintendent, she believes the district is moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, really, we\u2019re in the right position. Obviously, there are more changes to come, which is a great opportunity for others to get involved,\u201d said Maffei.<\/p>\n

Maffei is a vice president of client services at Sedgwick, a workers compensation and liability claims company.<\/p>\n

Further regarding school board personnel, President Neil Campbell read a statement of resignation before Tuesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

During Tuesday\u2019s regular meeting, the Board approved a resolution to cut ties with former Solicitor James Ellison. Ellison had been continuing work on multiple cases that are still in progress from his time as solicitor. However, current Solicitor Michael Levin said that the Conrad O\u2019Brien district investigation and additional information from elsewhere revealed allegations of wrongdoings on Ellison\u2019s part.<\/p>\n

Levin said that the report revealed that Ellison obtained a cellphone and tablet from the district at the district\u2019s expense, and the bills to those devices were being paid for by the district. Ellison\u2019s possession of these items and deferment of the bills violated the letters of engagement that laid out the conditions for his role as solicitor.<\/p>\n

In a statement read at Tuesday\u2019s meeting, Levin said that Ellison met with the school board to discuss purchasing a cellphone and tablet, but no agreement was reached. Though he did not get consent from the school board Ellison followed through on the purchases. Levin called the purchases and payment of bills \u201cunheard of for an independent contractor acting as a solicitor,\u201d \u201cimproper,\u201d and \u201cwithout authority.\u201d Levin said that Ellison should have notified the school board that his advising them on such a matter was a conflict of interest and that they should seek independent counsel.<\/p>\n

In addition, Levin asked Ellison about the cellphone and tablet that the former solicitor declined to answer. Levin quoted Ellison as saying, \u201cAs it is my understanding that matters pertaining to my cellphone and iPad, as well as their contents, are connected to the ongoing criminal investigation, I cannot answer any other specific questions at this time. Once the investigation is completed, I will be happy to speak with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levin said that he has advised the Board that it may have claims against Ellison, but he would be \u201chesitant to discuss those claims\u201d due to Ellison\u2019s continued work with the district and contact with district officials. Hence, Tuesday night\u2019s decision, which received unanimous approval from the Board, terminated all letters of engagement with Ellison.<\/p>\n

In addition, the resolution allows Levin to tell Ellison to turn in all files expeditiously and allows District Director of Business Ronald Kabonick to withhold money from Ellison\u2019s remaining payments to cover improper cellphone and tablet payments, though Ellison will get a chance to provide information showing that he was entitled to the district\u2019s covering those costs. Levin will also be allowed to evaluate whether the district has legal claims against Ellison and file any claims deemed warranted and appropriate.<\/p>\n

Also at Tuesday night\u2019s meeting, the district recognized 15 advanced placement (AP) students who did exceptionally well, potentially earning up to 27 college credits before finishing high school. Two of those students, Jared Henderson and Jessica Taylor, were recognized as AP Scholars with Distinction. The recognition came after the College Board recognized Coatesville Area School District on its AP Honor Roll. Coatesville is one of two schools in Chester County to earn the distinction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Board adds new member, terminates contracts with former Solicitor Ellison By Kyle Carrozza,\u00a0Staff Writer, The Times CALN \u2013 Michele Maffei was elected to fill the spot left vacant after board member Kimberly Mammel\u2019s resignation at Tuesday\u2019s school board meeting. In addition, School Board President Neil Campbell resigned before Tuesday\u2019s meeting, and the Board approved a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[100,187,1485,5031,1820],"class_list":["post-8313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-board-of-education","tag-coatesville-area-school-district","tag-james-ellison","tag-michele-maffei","tag-neil-campbell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8322,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8313\/revisions\/8322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}