Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania — According to a letter written by former board director Brian Drapp, the school board made a massive blunder last night with their illegal ratification of Fall and Winter Coaches, that included the cheerleading coaches who remain embattled with allegations of hazing in the Cumberland Valley School District.
“Actions requiring the affirmative vote of a majority of the full membership of the board”
Drapp believes the move was hastily made to ratified the contracts for the embattled coaches to “legitimize” their illegal employment during the Fall. However the board failed to follow basic procedures and Pennsylvania law requiring 5 votes (the vote was 4-3), he said. Drapp concluded the vote to ratify the coaches contract is void and unenforceable. He is calling on the board president and school solicitor to take immediate corrective action.
“Failure to comply with the provisions of this section shall render such acts of the board of school directors void and unenforcible.”
Directors Bud Shaffner and Atreia Sindiri both abstained from voting. Shaffner is Chair of CVSD Athletic Committee, and also the husband and father of cheerleading coaches Kristi Shaffner and Bethany Mullin.
CVSD Board President Mr. Greg Rausch and Solicitor Mr. Michael Cassidy allowed this vote to be “illegally” ratified by a “non-majority of the full membership of the board” vote of 4-3. This vote required five (5) affirmative votes to be ratified. Therefore, in accordance with Pennsylvania General Assembly 1949 Act 14 Section 508:
- “Failure to comply with the provisions of this section shall render such acts of
the board of school directors void and unenforcible”
CVSD Superintendent Dr. Mark Blanchard, because of this illegal board action, has forty-sixty (46) 2024-2025 CVSD Winter Coaches and six (6) 2024-2025 Fall Coaches illegally approved by the CVSD board. Included in both lists are Kristi Shaffner and Bethany Mullin, spouse and daughter of current CVSD School Director Bud Shaffner.
This inexcusable failure by Board President Greg Rausch along with board majority School Directors – Michelle Nestor, Jevon Ford, and Michael Gossert must be immediately corrected and a public statement issued concerning the illegal outcome of their vote on October 21, 2024.
More troubling is that both Solicitor Mr. Michael Cassidy and Superintendent Dr. Mark Blanchard, each with more than twenty years of first-hand experience in school board procedures, would silently sit back and allow such a simple and obvious procedural error and violation of CVSD policy and Pennsylvania law occur.
Harrisburg100 
CV needs a new superintendent and attorney. We can do better than this.
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Why is Cumberland Valley always in the news with another embarrassing mess? Ever since the mask and lockdown mandates the CV Administration has made the worst decisions.
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Is this incompetence or intentional? If this was incompetence we need to fire the attorney . If this is intentional the board members who allowed this, the superintendent and the board members all need removed.
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Why are they posting on facebook like this doesn’t matter? Has anyone from the superintendent’s office given a statement about this yet?
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Doesn’t Board President Rausch know what the rules are? Dumbfounded!
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The last board president Dunn cried in meetings like a toddler when she screwed up. Which was often. I hear the current president is the same.
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Has anyone heard a response from the board? Do they agree or disagree? What happens next? What is the update?
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Silence from board. Mr. Rausch only does what Dr. Blanchard and Bud Shaffner tell him to do. Completely failed the district with his weak leadership.
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Does the school own the local news stations? How come they never cover news bad for the district? What are they threatened with? Local newspapers and new stations are unable to cover all news in a fair and balanced manner. This is why more and more cancel their subscriptions.
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Nothing? Still? No public statement by the school? That’s all I need to know a cover up campaign is in full swing. CV is too big and too corrupt. It needs split up.
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I’ve dealt with this family. They have legal issues of them constantly using the race card. They love to harass others and cry wolf when it suits them. Always using that he was in the military to make himself look better. There are police reports on them for harassment.
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Totally agree about the Shaffner’s
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