Six board members agreed Tuzinski should be charged

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LARKSVILLE — In an escalation of Forty Fort Mayor Andy Tuzinski’s ongoing dispute with the Wyoming Valley West School Board, Tuzinski has been cited for disorderly conduct after an alleged dispute with board members at State Street Elementary School.

The citation was filed last week by Larksville Police.

Tuzinski, who spoke with the Times Leader Wednesday evening, claims the dispute began when the school board was attempting to hold a meeting in executive session on June 9, without having the meeting properly advertised. Tuzinski told a reporter that he believes this was a “flagrant disregard” of the state’s Sunshine Act.

The Times Leader reached out to Lars Anderson, a solicitor for the board, and board President Joseph Mazur on Wednesday. Anderson responded and said the district has no comment about the situation.

Board Member James Fender said he couldn’t comment on the case, but did say he was the person who called the police the night of the meeting, after five other members agreed the police should be called. Fender said he also checked the next morning with the rest of the board, to see if they wanted charges to be filed, and that six board members agreed to move forward with the citation.

Tuzinski, in his capacity as an individual and not as mayor, previously filed a lawsuit against the school board, claiming that the board had previously violated the Sunshine Act during a virtual meeting in late May, during which audio from microphones went out for more than two minutes, while board members continued discussions. A hearing on that suit is set for Thursday morning in Luzerne County Court.

According to Tuzinski, he had been made aware of the June 9 meeting between members of the school board at the elementary school, which he claimed had not been properly advertised ahead of time.

He said he went in and was asked by a custodial worker if he was there for the meeting. Tuzinski replied that he was, and he was directed by the worker to the auditorium, where the members were. Once there, Tuzinski said the school board’s president, Joseph Mazur, asked what he was doing there.

Tuzinski claims he replied, “I could ask you the same thing.”

During a brief back-and-forth, Tuzinski said, he understood Mazur to say there was an executive session. Tuzinski said that he would follow them into the room where they planned on holding the executive session, and said he would not leave until he had been given an indication as to what the meeting was about.

Tuzinski, who had previously sent emails to Mazur stressing the importance of following Sunshine Act rules, said that established case law says that an official body must provide substantial reasons why they are going into executive session when challenged about it.

Tuzinski cited The Reading Eagle Company v. Council of the City of Reading, a 1993 decision from Commonwealth Court, in which the court ruled that, when writing the Sunshine Act, “the General Assembly intended that the public be able to determine from the reason whether they are being properly excluded from the session.”

According to Tuzinski, Anderson told him that the Sunshine Act only requires boards to affirm they were in executive session — and why — before the beginning of the official public meeting. Tuzinski added that Anderson eventually confirmed the meeting was about personnel issues.

Anderson declined to address Tuzinski’s claims with the Times Leader on Wednesday evening.

After leaving the building, Tuzinski was cited by a Larksville police officer for disorderly conduct. A hearing before District Judge David A. Barilla is set for 10 a.m. July 1, court records show.