Central Bucks hires attorneys McSwain, Rinaldi to investigate anti-LGBTQ claims in ACLU complaint

The Central Bucks School District moved forward with hiring Philadelphia-based Duane Morris LLP for an internal investigation in response to a federal discrimination complaint filed by the ACLU of Pennsylvania early last month.

The board's 6-3 vote to hire former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain and former federal prosecutor Michael Rinaldi came after numerous public comments admonishing the proposed legal team. Some district residents voiced their support.

School board President Dana Hunter announced Monday that the district would consider hiring the firm to represent Central Bucks as the federal Department of Education begins its investigation into the ACLU's complaint filed on behalf of seven LGBTQ students.

Hunter and board Vice President Leigh Vlasblom voted in favor with members Debra Cannon, Lisa Sciscio, Sharon Collopy, Debra Cannon and Jim Pepper.

Hunter said McSwain and Rinaldi would be reviewing the accusations made by the ACLU as well as reviewing several of the district's policies listed in the complaint as problematic and harmful to some students.

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McSwain was an especially controversial choice among many of the 35 public commenters at Tuesday's meeting and for school board members Tabitha Dell'Angelo and Karen Smith, who voted against hiring Duane Morris along with board member Dr. Mariam Mahmud.

The backlash around McSwain

Dell'Angelo described McSwain as "unapologetically partisan" and that the district should hire an attorney without a public record of supporting policies they will be tasked with reviewing.

"It looks like we're less interested in getting it right and more interested in being right," Dell'Angelo said.

McSwain was a federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania between 2018 and 2021 and served the district as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2003 through 2006.

McSwain’s biography on the Duane Morris website describes him as a “fighter who knows how to win” and a defender against government overreach.

Prior to becoming a federal attorney under former President Donald Trump’s administration, McSwain gained national attention when he represented the Boy Scouts of America against Philadelphia in 2008.

A longstanding national BSA policy excluding gay children and adults from joining the scouts led to Philadelphia attempting to evict a local scout chapter from a city-owned building.

The Bruce Marks Scout Resource Center was originally built and paid for by the scouts in 1929, who then turned it over to the city under the condition that they could use it rent-free as its headquarters.

The city’s anti-discrimination ordinances clashed with a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the BSA’s policy to exclude gay scouts, and a three-week jury trial ended with a ruling in favor of the Cradle of Liberty Council, the local scout chapter.

The city eventually agreed in 2013 to paying the scouts about $825,000 for improvements made to the building over the decades the group used it as its headquarters and Cradle of Liberty would move to another location.

The BSA would remove its ban on gay children and adult from joining over the next two years.

McSwain also ran against eight other Republicans for the party nomination in the race for governor this year, finishing third in the race that put state Sen. Doug Mastriano on the November ballot against Democrat Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

In March, McSwain called a sign at Fugett Middle School in the West Chester Area School District as “leftist political indoctrination” in a since-deleted Facebook post.

Rachel Tripp, a spokesperson for McSwain’s campaign defended the post to the Philadelphia Inquirer and told the Delaware Valley Journal the message should have been communicated differently to curtail “Liberal Trolls” from sparking outrage.

“Whether it is hateful critical race theory, or the ‘deep social change related to racial, gender, and educational justice’ that is the GSA’s purpose, Bill McSwain believes that it is inappropriate for Pennsylvania tax dollars to be spent in public schools to explicitly encourage the progressive social justice agenda,” Tripp said.

While none of the board members who voted to hire McSwain commented further at Tuesday's meeting, Hunter did respond to a request for comment from this news organization earlier in the afternoon regarding McSwain's controversial past.

"Both in private practice and as U.S. Attorney, Bill McSwain has built a reputation as a staunch defender of constitutional freedoms and the rule of law, which is why the District believes that he and his firm are the right choice to represent the District in this matter," Hunter said.

What will it cost?

Another point raised through public comment and by two of the three dissenting votes Tuesday was the question of the new law firm's cost.

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As of Tuesday's vote, no information about McSwain or Rinaldi's legal fees has been disclosed publicly and Dell'Angelo and Smith didn't seem to know either before the vote.

The district also did not provide any estimates when responding to this news organization's email earlier Tuesday.

Smith added that the board has been aware of legal threats over a library policy passed in July, a May decision to remove Pride flags from classrooms and a continuously growing list of students speaking out at public meetings over alleged discrimination.

"None of these policies or procedures required a hurried approach or necessitated ignoring warning from well-respected state and national organizations. I can't approve spending what is likely to be tens of thousands of additional taxpayer funds to defend this legal action which so easily could have been avoided," Smith said.

This news organization filed a Right to Know Law request to Central Bucks asking for documents related to possible legal fees following Tuesday's vote.

On Policy 321

Tuesday's meeting brought a crowd of residents into the packed meeting room at 16 Welden Drive in Doylestown, many there to comment the district's proposed Policy 321.

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The “Political, Sociopolitical, and Other Related Communications” Policy, passed a first-read vote last month and was planned to face a final vote this week.

Under that policy, teachers could display nothing in the classroom “related to political, sociopolitical, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religious beliefs.” And teachers cannot appear to advocate on any issues related to sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion.

Policy 321 was also listed in the ACLU complaint as one of several examples of discriminatory actions the district has allegedly engaged in.

Since McSwain and Rinaldi will be reviewing the policies named in the complaint, the policy was removed the agenda Tuesday until the firm can perform its review, Central Bucks Solicitor Jeffrey Garton explained during the meeting.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Central Bucks hires Bill McSwain for policy review of ACLU complaint