Central Bucks School Board jettisons its solicitor, appoints interim lawyer

For the third time since Democrats took control of the Central Bucks School District in 2023, the board is seeking a new solicitor.

With no public explanation Tuesday evening, the board held a special meeting and appointed an interim solicitor and voted to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for general solicitor services.

In November 2024, the board replaced it’s first choice, David Conn, with the firm Wisler Pearlstine.

Edward Diasio, a partner with Wisler Pearlstine, did not respond to a request for comment.

Six board members voted to appoint Peter Amuso, a partner at Clarke Gallagher Barbiero Amuso and Glassman, as interim solicitor. Board member James Pepper, the only Republican on the board, abstained.

“This is a grave issue, one that I, as an officer of the court, take very seriously,” said Pepper, a lawyer. “I don’t care if anybody believes it or not, this is absolutely nothing to do with politics. Nothing.”

Sen. Steve Santarsiero is second from the left on the bottom row.

Pepper added that he’s had “a number of interactions” with Amuso. “I found him perfectly fine with me. Nevertheless, I am going to recuse myself from this vote due to potential legal implications that we are at least in part addressing tonight as a board. This is not a reflection on Mr. Amuso or any type of political statement on my part.”

All seven board members at the meeting then voted to send out an RFP for a new law firm.

Resident Shannon Harris said the special meeting violated the Sunshine Act because it had not been properly advertised.

Board President Susan Gibson said it had been advertised on June 29, and Amuso had previously done some work for the district.

Harris argued that most of the community was on vacation and unaware of the meeting.

“The lack of transparency is appalling,” said Harris. “You did it deceptively.” She also noted that Amuso’s firm has a picture of Bucks County Democratic Chair state Sen. Steve Santarsiero on its website, although he is no longer listed as an attorney there.

Jamie Walker, a parent, called Amuso and his partner, Michael Clarke, “horrendous attorneys.” She objected to the board when it hired them in 2023, telling the board via email that it was “a huge disservice to our district.” She noted that Amuso’s firm had represented Pennsbury when it lost a major First Amendment case.

A 2023 Inquirer article detailed that Amuso’s politically connected law firm is the solicitor for numerous municipalities in the Delaware Valley.

In February 2024, two Republican members of the Central Bucks School Board, Debra Cannon and Lisa Sciscio, abruptly resigned from the board, claiming they had been excluded from a retreat held the previous month by then-board President Karen Smith. They also believed that actions taken by David Conn, the first solicitor the new board hired, put them in personal legal jeopardy.

They made those claims in scathing resignation letters.

Conn, whose social media posts said he was a “progressive solicitor,” had previously represented three of the Democratic board members during the November 2023 election recount.

In their haste to hire Conn, the board may also have skirted the Sunshine Act by using Signal to communicate privately. Signal erases messages, which are not discoverable by public right-to-know requests.

Linda Stein is News Editor at Delaware Valley Journal.

This article was republished with permission from the Delaware Valley Journal.