STATE OF INDIANA

COUNTY OF KOSCIUSKO

PUBLIC LAWSUIT COMPLAINT
FOR
INJUNCTIVE RELIEF
AND DECLARATORY JUDGMENT

 

Come now the Plaintiffs, by Counsel, pursuant to the provisions contained within I.C. 34-13-5, et seq. (Public Lawsuits Statute), and for their Complaint for Declaratory Judgment against the Defendants allege and say as follows:

I.
Parties

1. The Warsaw Community School Corporation (“School Corporation”) is a public corporation that owns and manages the public schools located within the boundaries of said School Corporation. A school corporation is a municipal corporation for purposes of I.C. 34-13-5 (Ind. Code section 34-6-2-86).
2. Dr. David McGuire (“McGuire”) is the Superintendent of the School Corporation.
3. Rande Thorpe (“Thorpe”) is the Chief Financial Officer of the School Corporation.
4. Concerned Citizens for Quality Education, Inc. (“Concerned Citizens”) is an Indiana not-for-profit corporation organized to represent the citizens, parents and taxpayers within said School Corporation.
5. Mary Green, Vallerie A. Rowland, Rebecca S. Thomas and Gordon H. Vanator are all residents, citizens and taxpayers who reside within the boundaries of the School Corporation. The Plaintiffs bring this action as both citizens and taxpayers under I.C. 34-13-5-2. Pursuant to said statute, the Plaintiffs bring this action as a class suit on behalf of all other citizens and taxpayers of said School Corporation.
6. Craig Allebach, Larry Chamberlin, Cathy Folk, James Folk, Mark Minatel, Ron Yeiter and Gene England are all Members of the Board of Trustees of Warsaw Community School Corporation.

II.
Factual Background

7. After a series of facility planning meetings during the years of 2000 through 2002, Dr. Lee Harman, then Superintendent of Warsaw Community Schools, recommended through resolution to build a new three-section school in Prairie Township to replace Atwood Elementary, to construct an auditorium/performing arts center, outdoor physical development facilities, and weight and wrestling room at the Warsaw Community High School campus, and to build a technology and support services addition to the central office facility. Also, he proposed that monies would be set aside to promote educational equity in the elementary schools, to conduct facility assessments of some schools, and to study redistricting. Funding was to be accomplished through a combination of Capital Projects Fund and Debt Service Funds (bond issue). The bond issue was determined not to exceed $30 million. The resolution was passed by the School Corporation Board of School Trustees on March 18, 2002.
8. McGuire was approved by the Warsaw Corporation Board of School Trustees and sworn in as Superintendent of the School Corporation on July 15, 2002.
9. On October 21, 2002, McGuire requested, with Board approval, a “1028 Hearing” in November, 2002 in order to approve bond funding for high school campus building projects, renovations at Lakeview Middle School and at the central office facility. McGuire explained that the major change had been to move the elementary proposals from this recommendation and that bonding the bulk of the expense was recommended in order to not obligate Capital Project Funds for building.
10. On November 18, 2002, the 1028 Hearing was approved. No remonstrance was filed against said $30 million project and it is in process.
11. On May 19, 2003, McGuire recommended to the Board of Trustees that four elementary schools (Atwood, Claypool, Silver Lake, and Jefferson) be closed and that two new buildings for elementary schools be constructed in the Prairie Township and Winona Lake areas. 12. On or about June 16, 2003 the School Corporation, pursuant to I.C. 20-5-52-2, conducted a public meeting and by a five to two vote of its Board of Trustees, granted its preliminary approval for a $30 million building project by the School Corporation. The project included building a new elementary school building in the Jefferson elementary area, and renovating Claypool Elementary.
13. Following the Section 1028 Hearing, the School Corporation caused to be published a public notice of said new $30 million bonding and construction project, pursuant to I. C. 6-1.1-20-3.1.
14. In response to the foregoing, approximately 1,000 taxpayers who own property within the School Corporation boundaries submitted petitions requesting the application of the remonstrance process. (250 were required.)
15. As a result of the submission of said petitions, the Defendants withdrew the proposed building and bonding project.
16. Not content, however, with withdrawing the said project, and in an obvious effort to attempt to punish taxpayers and parents who had opposed the building/bonding project, the Defendants announced the closing of three elementary schools (Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake), and the transfer of their students into Washington, Madison and Eisenhower Elementary Schools. The Plaintiffs objected to the closing of the three one-section elementary schools at a public hearing.
17. The closing of Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake Elementary Schools will require the School Corporation to bus the displaced students from said closed schools to distant locations, with the attendant physical dangers and risk of harm or death resulting from said long-distance bus transportation. This is of particular concern for younger children who will be forced into being bused many miles from their normal home environment. The Plaintiffs expressed concern regarding the transportation of children for such long distances at a public hearing.
18. Washington, Madison and Eisenhower Elementary Schools are not sufficiently sized to accommodate the new students that will be placed in said schools by the Defendants. According to the School Corporation, these schools were already at or nearly at full capacity. As a result, many of the displaced students will be forced into temporary classrooms, with the physical and other disadvantages attendant thereto.
19. In an effort to justify the closing of said three schools, the Defendants have asserted that the School Corporation will save $300,000, but said claims have not been substantiated, and are likely not true, given the ongoing costs of education of the displaced students, in spite of the closing of three one section schools. The School Board also discussed funds to be disbursed for additional school buses (which would also require additional drivers and expanded insurance coverage) for those students formerly able to walk to school and for “modular classrooms” to accommodate overflow classes. The Plaintiffs questioned the basis for the determination of any savings by closing the schools and objected to the expenditure of funds for additional school buses and for modulars at a public hearing.
20. In fact, many of the parents living within the areas served by said three schools have been active in Concerned Citizens, and thus are being punished by the Defendants for their opposition to the second $30 million dollar building/bonding project.
21. McGuire made it clear as an integral part of his new building plans that if the project passed, with no remonstrance, the three subject schools would not be closed for an extended period of time. McGuire said prior to the remonstrance, “If you remonstrate I will simply close your schools.”
22. Plaintiffs believe that the Defendants have artificially created a fiscal crisis to justify closing the subject schools, but without merit. These acts include proposing a capital projects fund based on the continued use of the schools announced to be closed. Even if there are fiscal needs, the solution proposed by the School Corporation has not been shown to be a legitimate means of dealing with that crisis. There has been no basis provided by the School Corporation for the alleged savings that will be generated by closing the three one-section elementary schools.
23. Should the Defendants succeed in closing Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake Elementary Schools the property values of homes located in the areas surrounding said schools will likely plummet, as new potential purchasers look elsewhere to avoid having their younger children bused to school. In addition, many may move out of said areas in order to avoid their children being bused, or having to transport their children for any after school activities, which sales will further depress property values in said areas.
24. The School Corporation will be forced to spend considerable sums of money to a.) close the three schools, b.) bus the students of said schools, and c.) for the purchase, maintenance and operation of new buses. Said expenditures are a.) not required, b.) anticipated to be excessive, and c.) an improper expenditure of taxpayer funds.
25. Should the Defendants succeed in closing Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake Elementary Schools, there will not be adequate lunch time, nor seating space available, to accommodate the increased number of students at each combined school.
26. In the closing of said three schools, athletic and extra-curricular activities will be extremely limited or practically eliminated for the students of the said three schools.
27. Through no fault of their own, the incoming teachers, students and support staff will be looked upon by the host schools (Madison, Eisenhower, and Washington) as the reason for said impositions, such as crowded conditions and limited teaching and extra-curricular opportunities being placed on the staff and students of said host schools.
28. McGuire and the School Corporation cannot unequivocally guarantee the safety of the students of the proposed closed one-section schools in the event of inclement weather conditions and/or intrusions. By increasing the distance required to travel to their elementary schools, the chance of an accident occurring also increases.
29. In the event the three one-section schools are closed, Warsaw Community Schools would not have adequate internal counseling services available for students experiencing anxiety, depression, or any other mental health condition due to a move to a crowded school environment.
30. The students’ parents and/or guardians from the said closed schools will encounter hardships in additional expenses, time, and travel due to the distance where the students are being placed by McGuire and the School Corporation.
31. The bus drivers of Warsaw Community Schools will be unfairly required by the School Corporation to meet a time schedule obligation for the students of the proposed closed one-section schools to arrive at their host schools. Such obligations on the bus drivers increases the chance of danger and physical harm for both the students and bus drivers.
32. Contrary to much public and co-administrative suggestion, McGuire and the Board of School Trustees have bypassed the termination and/or reduction of special interest programs (such as the gifted and talented program) and extra-curricular support staff in order to close the three one-section schools.
33. With the crowded conditions which will exits at Madison, Eisenhower, and Washington Elementary Schools when said one-section schools are closed, the School Corporation may be in violation of state-mandated space requirements.
34. The Defendants have no valid or justifiable basis, either under the law or the facts, for their decisions and actions as set forth herein.

III.
Count One
Injunctive Relief

For Plaintiffs’ first cause of action against the Defendants, the Plaintiffs allege and say as follows:
35. The Plaintiffs re-allege and assert herein all of the allegations contained in paragraphs 1 through 34, above.

36. The Defendants, for improper and inappropriate reasons, have taken action to punish parents, taxpayers and citizens who have remonstrated against the building/bonding projects announced and advocated by said Defendants. They have done so by announcing the closing of the Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake Elementary Schools, with the attendant added danger to the health and safety of the displaced students who will be adversely affected by said actions.
37. Unless restrained, the Defendants will proceed to close said three schools and bus the students in said schools over long distances, at high cost, to schools that lack the capacity to accommodate said displaced students. Unless the Defendants are restrained, the Plaintiffs, and their children will suffer irreparable harm. An injunction is the only effective way of addressing the Plaintiffs’ complaints, in that by the passage of time, under normal litigation, the harm to be suffered will have suffered by the time non-injunctive relief could be granted.
38. The Defendants have not only announced said actions to punish those taxpayers, parents and citizens who oppose their expensive building projects, but also in order to impose upon the community their future plans for building/bonding projects which will be imposed to “solve” the over-crowding caused by the Defendants.
WHEREFORE, the Plaintiffs pray for a preliminary, followed by a permanent injunction restraining the Defendants from a.) closing Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake Elementary Schools, individually or collectively; b.) busing students from said schools long distances to other schools and c.) forcing students into schools that will then become overcrowded; and for all other relief just and proper in the premises.

IV.
Count Two
Declaratory Judgment

For Plaintiffs’ second cause of action against the Defendants, the Plaintiffs allege and say as follows:
39. The Plaintiffs re-allege and assert herein all of the allegations contained in paragraphs 1 through 38, above.
40. Due to the aforesaid acts by the Defendants it is necessary that a declaratory judgment be entered against the Defendants as set forth herein.
41. The Plaintiffs request the Court to enter a declaratory judgment, pursuant to I.C. 34-14-1, et seq. (Declaratory Judgment Act) finding that:

WHEREFORE, the Plaintiffs pray that the Court find and enter a declaratory judgment finding that a.) The Defendants’ decision to close Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake Elementary Schools is unsupported by fact, need, or requirement; b.) The closing of said schools and the busing of said students from said schools poses an appreciable danger to the health and safety of said students; c.) The closing of said Schools is a retaliatory acts by the Defendants, and thus unsupportable at law, as said acts are not within the scope of the individual Defendants’ job duties; and any other findings appurtenant to said actions by the Defendants found to be applicable by the Court.

Respectfully submitted,

John R. Price,
Counsel for PlaintiffsJohn R. Price
Attorney #5828-49
Bruce A. Stuard
Attorney # 21228-48
JOHN PRICE & ASSOCIATES
9000 Keystone Crossing #150
Indianapolis, IN 46240
(317) 844-8822
Warsaw Remon/Complaint