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WILKES-BARRE — The Wilkes-Barre Area School District and Pennsylvania State Education Association objected to Stephen Stahl’s wrongful termination lawsuit in a deliberate attempt to bully the former Coughlin administrator and hike up the cost of his legal fees, Stahl alleged in court documents filed Monday.
The school district suspended Stahl, 49, of Hunlock Creek, on Feb. 7, 2014 and fired him the following month amid a sex scandal involving a 16-year-old student. He was paroled after serving a little over six months on a corruption of minors conviction.
Stahl claimed in a complaint filed in July that the school district breached his contract when he was given a “bogus” Loudermill hearing the day of his suspension without his or a union member’s presence.
The former dean of students and wrestling coach alleged the PSEA, the state branch of the nation’s largest teacher’s union, failed to represent him or force the district to hold a proper Loudermill hearing, a due process given to a public employee before their employer moves to terminate them.
In their objections filed earlier this month, the defendants’ lawyers argued the complaint should be thrown out in its entirety because it fails to include multiple documents required by law, including a signed verification, a notice to defend and several writings referenced in the filing.
Stahl’s lawyer, New Jersey-based attorney Edward F. Bezdecki, argues the objections should be dismissed without merit because they were filed “solely for harassment against (Stahl) and to drive up (Stahl’s) legal fees.”
Stahl affirmed the alleged harassment in court documents filed with his lawyer’s response Monday.
“The facts contained in the preliminary objections are false and done merely to harass me,” he says in the document.
The ex-administrator seeks $137,884 in damages.