KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. — Chad Williams is waging a fight against COVID-era tyranny in his children’s school district in southeastern Pennsylvania.
“If I don’t fight this fight, no one else will,” Williams told the Post. “What happened was wrong.”
Williams, a business lawyer and father of four, began questioning whether the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District had the legal authority to impose restrictions such as mask mandates and mandatory remote learning during the 2020 pandemic.
At the time, his two daughters, one in high school and the other about to enter junior high, were suffering greatly from the interruption to their school lives.
Like many parents, Williams had a simple question for officials at her children’s suburban Philadelphia school: Why are they pursuing policies that are so obviously damaging to our kids?
“You are hurting my children and I believe you have no legal authority to enforce the policies that you are enforcing,” Williams said of her first interactions with school officials. “I want to know where your authority comes from and why you are refusing to report the abuse.” [done] To my kids and to other kids.
As a volunteer football coach for the district, Williams is a mandatory reporter and is in a position where he is compelled to voice concerns about children in his community.
Four years later, Williams is fighting for answers.
“To my knowledge, this is the only case in the country of a legal challenge to school officials who acted unlawfully and harmed children during a pandemic,” Williams said.
Williams said in a letter he received Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Education finally confirmed it would be investigating UCFSD Superintendent John Sanville for possible misconduct and violations of the law, based on an educator misconduct complaint he filed.
The state must decide whether the district’s policy and subsequent actions were “legally sufficient for professional disciplinary action” as established by the court. January Pennsylvania Supreme Court case“It’s a great opportunity for us to get to know each other,” Williams said.
It was by no means an easy fight.
During the 2020-2021 UCFSD board meeting, Williams was a voice for parents who could only watch as elected officials unanimously doubled down on mask mandates.
Williams said the school district continued to ignore his requests for an investigation into Sanville’s promotion of the policy, despite filing multiple complaints. December 2021 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling The state’s acting health commissioner was found to have exceeded his authority by requiring masks to be worn in schools.
“They continued to implement the policy from December even after the Supreme Court ruled they had no authority to do so. [2021] Until March [2022]” said Williams.
Williams isn’t slowing down in his pursuit of justice, and has committed to enlisting Republican state Sen. Scott Martin in his efforts in 2022.
when Martin wrote a letter to the district.The district, represented by Philadelphia law firm Fox Rothschild, accused Williams of forging the letter and threatened legal action.
“I gave them multiple opportunities to correct my understanding of the facts and they never responded,” Williams said.
“Their intention was clear – they were trying to scare me out of the deal,” Williams added. “They threatened to come after my house. ‘Call all the insurance companies,’ they said. They were going to come after me.”
Fox Rothschild also represents the neighboring Great Valley School District, which was embroiled in a social media scandal this summer.
Pennsylvania state House candidate Neil Young, a teacher and victim of the scandal, told The Washington Post that he believes lawyers for the Great Valley School District advised the district to ignore concerns that teachers were being harassed and impersonated online by middle school students.
