The $1 Million Dollar Lie!

For months, the media, political activists and Central Bucks United Democratic candidates have been declaring that it was the Central Bucks School Board majority that has frivolously wasted taxpayer dollars on an investigation into the claims of negligence on the part of the district to address LGBTQ issues. THIS WAS FALSE. As you will see below, a teacher, Mr. Burgess, Board Director Karen Smith, and parents and the ACLU colluded along with the media to create a hoax in order to defame our district staff and discredit the Board majority, all in an effort to win the majority back in the upcoming School Board election. Students were used as pawns in a political agenda; their complaints hidden from principals and information given to outsiders to plan protests and disrupt school academics. The three complaints filed with the Federal Government FORCED our district to investigate and prove whether or not the accusations were true or not. The INDEPENDENT investigation showed the district was not discriminating against the LGBTQ population, IDENTIFIED THE TRUTH, and was addressing all issues brought to the attention of the staff. If Mr. Burgess, Mrs. Smith and the ACLU hadn’t filed these complaints, the money used to respond to the Federal Government would not have been necessary. This is why Mr. Burgess has been suspended and why we are asking Board Director Karen Smith to resign. They are deceptive liars and harmed our children.

Stop HER Chaos!

Board Director, Karen Smith, MUST Resign!

During a Special Board meeting on April 20th, Duane Morris presented evidence that Mr. Burgess, a Mandatory Reporter, withheld bullying incidents from Administration. Instead, he created a student dossier and gave private information to an outsider, Marlene Pray, who used it to manipulate the school district, administration, and staff and organize protests, media narratives and community division.

In the presentation, the most shocking reveal was that a current Board Member, Karen Smith, also COLLUDED in a three-prong attack on our school district. The resulting Federal investigation is still unresolved and could potentially affect our federal funding and ability to provide excellent education permanently.  The three complaints were:

1. Mr. Burgess filed a complaint in April 2022 with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).

2. Ms. Smith sent a letter directly to the Department of Education in July 2022 and the Office of Civil Rights responded in September 2022 marking it as case: 03221307.

3.Prompted by parents and community members, the ACLU filed a complaint in October 2022. They did not file a lawsuit because the unredacted copy would have been given to CBSD. Instead, the ACLU underhandedly provided a fully redacted copy so the district could not investigate nor address the complaints raised. If they truly cared about the students, why redact the information? This was a political move to defame CBSD.

Despite her oath to uphold district policies, and to educate and protect all students:

1. Karen Smith ACTED ALONE and SECRETLY COLLUDED with others, without consulting her School Board peers and Administration, resulting in massive FEDERAL investigation being opened against CBSD.

Policy 000.02 states: “The powers of the Board of School Directors are not vested in the individual Board member. No such individual is authorized to act on behalf of the Board to carry out any of the Boards authorized powers.”

2. CBSD was FORCED to respond to the Federal Government and, therefore, HAD to hire an outside organization to investigate and respond. The media falsely claimed CBSD was frivolously spending our tax dollars. THIS WAS THE MILLION DOLLAR LIE! If Karen Smith and others did not independently file complaints, no money would have been spent. Her BEHAVIOR resulted in the high cost of legal fees. They CHOSE to withhold information from the district so they could not respond. In collusion with the media, they CAUSED our TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATION and DISTRICT to appear that they were allowing bullying especially with LGBTQ students. This was a HOAX, proven to be false by the evidence presented by Duane Morris. Who would lie and make public accusations against our district employees, especially a School Board Director? 

3. The actions of Mr. Burgess, Karen Smith, and others, disrupted the education of our children, created chaos through staff and student protests, and embroiled CBSD in a media political circus.  This behavior diverted staff and district resources away from focusing on student education and learning loss.

4. In our opinion, Karen Smith VIOLATED her oath and district policies in the following ways:

A) The board majority voted, but she did not accept that policy 109.2 and Policy 321 passed. Whether or not she disagrees, she MUST COMPLY with the will of the Board Vote and implement district policies. Instead, she publicly opposed them, and took matters into her own hands contacting the Department of Education,  bringing the full weight of a progressive Federal Government, whom she KNEW would be her advocate, to investigate CBSD.  She betrayed our community and has lost the trust of her Board colleagues, Administration, and employees.

Reference:  Board Policy 000.02 Board- Power- “Shall adopt and enforce rules and regulations for the     management of school affairs and the conduct and deportment of employees and students.”

Reference:  Board Policy 000.011 Code of Conduct for School Board Member

“2c) Board members should work together in a spirit of harmony, respect, and cooperation, despite differences of opinion.” 

“ 2d) Personal decisions should be based upon all sufficient facts, we should vote our honest conviction without partisan bias, and we will abide by and uphold the majority decision of the Board.”                                                                                                                                                                          

B) After filing the complaint, Karen Smith spoke against CBSD to multiple media sources, WITHOUT knowledge or consent of the entire Board. She brought national NEGATIVE attention to our district causing further incitement and division.  Students were used as pawns in board meetings to advance an activist agenda, and our board meetings became a political circus show, not a place of school business.

Karen Smith used her POSITION as an elected School Board Director to further her own personal activist agenda and campaign platform. Her hoax harmed our children, and she used the media and community activists to divide our community.

Reference: Board Policy 000.011 Standards for Effective School Governance: “6) Communicates with and engages the community by…. d) including all stakeholders IN ALL COMMUNICATIONS.”  

Reference: Board Policy 000.011 Code of Conduct for Board Members:

 “e) Individuals have no legal authority outside the meetings of the Board and should conduct their relationships with all stakeholders and media on this basis.”                                                                           

“ f)  We will not use our positions as School Directors to benefit ourselves or any individual or agency”.

C) Karen Smith is considered a Mandated Reporter and took an oath to educate and protect our students.  She knew who the students were in the ACLU complaint, but remained silent, just as Mr. Burgess did. She DENIED CBSD any attempt to address their grievances.  Karen Smith remained SILENT to her board, COLLUDED to handicap our administration and staff in their duties, and voted AGAINST the district investigation of bullying. Why? Because she KNEW she secretly sent a letter, wanted to be reelected, and wanted her political party to win the board majority.  Karen Smith put her activism over the safety and wellbeing of our children.

 Reference:  School Board Oath Ceremony December 2022:” I solemnly swear that I will discharge the duties of my office with FIDELITY. “ 

What is fidelity? Faithfulness to the District, Board, and her duties- Everything she did violated this oath.

D) Karen Smith actions distracted and inhibited Dr. Lucabaugh from performing his duties to our school district.  Because of the investigation, Dr. Lucabaugh was forced to allocate his time and efforts away from academic pursuits, such as pandemic learning loss, staff shortages, building the CBSD Educational Foundation, and toward trying to calm, address and refocus a divided community.  In a direct email to Dr. Lucabaugh regarding Policy 109.2, Karen Smith claimed, “it originated from bigotry” and told him “You do not support fundamental human rights when you are supporting the same actions as the Nazis.”

Dr. Lucabaugh remains non-political in carrying out the district mission and her words are disrespectful and unprofessional.  Our Republican Board members have received threats from the community and now one of our directors, dares disrespect our Superintendent? Progressive activists, like herself, have gone too far.

Reference: Board Policy 000.011 Code of Conduct for School Board Members: “2i) We should respect that the Superintendent of Schools and his/her staff are responsible and accountable for the delivery of the educational programs and the conduct of school operations.”

E) Karen Smith is doubling down!  Instead of admitting her behavior was wrong, she immediately doubled down on her actions and excused them publicly.  She shows no remorse that she acted against her Board peers and Administration and cost our district hundreds of thousands defending ourselves against the Federal Government. In her eyes, “the ends justify the means”. 

No one is perfect, but for her to maintain that she holds no REPSONSIBILITY for her actions is INEXCUSEABLE and CORRUPT, and shows that she is UNFIT TO LEAD, SHOULD RESIGN and WITHDRAW her election campaign. She and others created a hoax which harmed our children, and weaponized the ACLU and the Federal Government against CBSD.

Please SIGN the petition to show you believe we all need to work together as a community to solve our differences and not individually on our own accord. 

COME to the school board meeting on May 9th at (10 Weldon Dr. Doylestown ) to give public comment and show support of the board majority. 

VOTE on May 16th and November 7th for candidates that don’t perpetuate their own chaos!

This petition is the sole opinion of CBSD411, parents and community members. No member of CBSD School District or political candites were involved in its creation.

In case you missed the Special Board meeting, all information and evidence is below.

CBSD School Board Special Meeting

The Central Bucks School Board hosted a special meeting presentation given by the Duane Morris law firm which was hired to investigate four Federal complaints of discrimination and wrongdoing by the district. Every community member should watch this video in its entirety to gain an understanding of what the true causes behind the allegations are, who is responsible for harm, and because of these findings, how the media and community members perpetuated lies and misinformation about our school board and administration. We at CBSD411 will provide you the information, but want you to use it to educate yourself for the benefit of yourself, your family and our community. Our entire community is responsible for our children, and we want to empower everyone to be an active supporter of CBSD school district. Every child deserves love and no child should ever be harmed on our watch. Read the entire report here . View the presentation slides here.

4/21/23- An interview with President Dana Hunter on her reaction to the report. She is horrified that students were used for a political agenda.

After all that was revealed in the school board meeting with Mr. Burgess, he is suing our school district? As a teacher he is a mandatory reporter and documents indicate that he did not follow the law and school district procedures for helping and protecting our children!