John Paul Jones Middle School
PHILADELPHIA - Recent appeals in Pennsylvania federal court hope to overturn the closing of a troubled Philadelphia middle school and revive an excessive force lawsuit following an altercation in a casino.
Those two rulings shut down John Paul Jones Middle School and shut the door on David Brill's lawsuit against Bethlehem police officers and Wind Creek Bethlehem. The school case was appealed Aug. 13 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, about a month after Judge Chad Kenney found poor performance had cost Memphis Street Academy its charter.
MSA had argued the School District of Philadelphia's decision to take Jones Middle's charter was racially motivated, as most of its students are Black and Hispanic. That isn't the case at all, Kenney wrote.
"The Court holds MSA to the promises it made to the School District of Philadelphia," he wrote.
"The conditions MSA agreed to be held to - and failed to meet - were guardrails to provide adequate education for its students. Instead of uplifting its students, MSA blames their demographic backgrounds for its own shortcomings.
"These excuses deprive MSA's students of the education they deserve. MSA must surrender its charter."
From 2001-18, the School Reform Commission governed SDP while it was declared a distressed school district. The SRC created the Renaissance School Initiative to issue charters for schools, and the SDP issued a five-year charter for Jones Middle as a Renaissance Charter School.
A 2013 article in The Atlantic touted a dramatic downtown in violence at the school, once known as "Jones Jail." But the school failed to reach academic, attendance and other goals. In 2022, a decision was made to close it, leading parents to file suit in federal court.
Those plaintiffs made claims under constitutional protections against discrimination, but Kenney's ruling notes SDP has not renewed the charters of only two of 98 schools, "the majority of which serve predominantly Black and Hispanic student bodies..."
MSA had negotiated a new charter agreement with new academic standards but failed to reach any of them. When SDP moved to revoke the charter, MSA resisted and continued to operate, Kenney wrote.
Its 2018 academic performance was measured against MSA's prior performance and that of similar schools, not schools district-wide. Failing to hit those goals allowed triggered a surrender clause in the charter agreement.
Brill's case against Wind Creek Casino was partly doomed by surveillance footage showing Brill getting involved while his son was being kicked out. Allentown federal magistrate judge Pamela Carlos tossed the suit July 14, leading to the appeal.
Brill's son Karl had berated casino staff for being refused a drink. Brill eventually pled guilty to disorderly conduct but still hired Kevin O'Brien of Stampone O'Brien Dilsheimer to sue.
"As might be expected, Plaintiff and the defendants offer starkly contrasting accounts of what transpired during the arrest," Carlos wrote.
"However, in this instance - where there is videotape footage from three body-worn cameras, together with surveillance footage from the casino - there is little room for dispute."
Casino security told cops they wanted Karl arrested for trespass. Footage from the ensuing physical struggle shows David sticking his arm in between an officer and Karl.
Another officer grabbed David from behind and eventually handcuffed him with the help of casino security supervisor Thomas Bear, despite David's resistance. He was left with a cut on his face and told cops "I'm good" as they placed him in an upright position, and cops sent him to St. Luke's Hospital.
"(T)he Defendant Officers concede that Plaintiff was not the suspect of the criminal investigation they were responding to, and that his ultimate offense was not a 'terribly serious crime,'" Carlos wrote.
"However, the Defendant Officers emphasize - and I agree - that 'Plaintiff made an already bad situation created by his drunken and threatening son even worse.'
"(T)he video footage confirms that Plaintiff continuously stood between the responding officers and his son and even directed his son to respond to their questions, often shouting expletives in his direction. And to compound matters further, Plaintiff and his son were visibly intoxicated during this whole incident."
