Plaintiffs’ seek funds to continue battle

Five months after a federal judge threw out a civil rights lawsuit brought by five District 15 parents against the Board of Education, the battle is far from over. The plaintiffs are now raising funds to appeal the August decision at the appellate level and to try to ward off a suit brought by the Lawrence school board against the parents to recoup the money the district has spent to defend itself — more than $150,000, district officials say.

The parents who brought the case, Tara Incantalupo, Andrew Levey, Stacey Sullivan, Flora Chen and Steve Jackson, sent a message to members of a Facebook group called “Save Lawrence Public Schools!” last week, seeking $100 donations to support their legal fight.

The parents sued claiming that the decision to close the Number Six School in Woodmere violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, and that the school board was pushing an Orthodox agenda over public-school concerns. On Aug. 24, U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert dismissed the parents' lawsuit, saying, “Nothing the plaintiffs have pled remotely resembles any violations of the First or Fourteenth Amendments, except, ironically, for plaintiffs’ requested relief, which itself violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”

The Jan. 21 Facebook message stated that the plaintiffs' original attorney, Robert Agostisi, took the case on a pro bono basis, and that with the school board seeking sanctions against him and the parents, significant funds need to be raised.

The parents have hired the New York City law firm Leeds, Morelli & Brown to try to have Seybert’s decision reversed and avoid having to reimburse the school board for its legal expenses. Levey said that he and the other parents were never seeking any monetary gain from the suit, and that the board's suit against them and their attorney for more than $150,000 in legal costs has placed an unfair burden on them.

Levey said that the school board could have had free counsel thanks to an insurance policy, but instead opted to retain David Butler, one of “the most expensive attorneys they could find.” He added that if the school board had not sought sanctions against the parents, they were prepared to walk away after the August decision went against them.

But school board member Dr. Asher Mansdorf said that the board had told the plaintiffs before the Aug. 24th decision that the district planned to recover legal fees.

The Herald filed a Freedom of Information request in December with the Lawrence School District, seeking documents detailing the district's legal fees related to the case, but the district has provided no documentation.

Al D'Agostino, an attorney for the school board, defended the decision to try to recoup legal expenses from the plaintiffs and the hiring of Butler, whom he described as a “national expert in constitutional law.” D'Agostino said that the legal expenses could have been much higher had the school board opted to have each trustee receive representation, and had Butler not been successful in getting the case dismissed so quickly.

“When you sue seven people and there is a potential liability, they are entitled to the best,” D'Agostino said. “They feel the taxpayers should not be forced to face this [financial] burden alone.”

It is not known when a three-judge panel will hear the appeal of the lawsuit in appellate court. “We are looking for a fair day in court, which we have not had yet,” he said.