ADAMS TWP — Mars Area School District voted 7-2 to file a declaratory judgment action against the Pennsylvania School Board Association during a meeting Tuesday, Oct. 8.

The lawsuit against the PSBA comes after the district received “threatening letters” from the organization to cease and desist using “what they allege are their copyrighted materials,” said solicitor Thomas W. King III.

The copyrighted policies would have been obtained during the district’s participation in the association, of which it is no longer part.

In May, the Mars Area School District did not renew membership to the PSBA due to a tied vote of 4-4, with one abstention.

“It would be, in my mind at least, very difficult to ascertain which of these policies that are in place now in Mars were Mars policies before PSBA showed up, and which were policies ... that PSBA recommended, or which policies that PSBA recommended were actually Mars policies,” King said.

“The letters say things like, and I quote — ‘Once a district terminates its agreement with PSBA, that district may no longer use the PSBA materials, and it must, among other things, develop its own policies,’” he said. “And I think it’s an absurd suggestion that we would have to stop and rewrite all of Mars’ various school district policies. It’s a very expensive proposition. It’s lengthy.”

The lawsuit, filed by firm Dillon, McCandless, King, Coulter & Graham, is being filed jointly with Southside Area School District in Beaver County, King said. That district received similar notices from the association.

He said he was told Ligonier Valley School District will consider joining the joint lawsuit.

The Mars district had been a member of the school board association until 2016-17 school year, when it opted not to renew its membership, according to communications director Josh Schwoebel. It re-entered the organization for the 2023-24 school year, he previously stated.

By filing a declaratory judgment action, the school district is not seeking money damages except to the extent that it incurs legal fees, King said. Moving forward, he said the school district will continue to write its own policies as it has in the past without guidance from the PSBA.

Lee Ann Riner, who voted against entering in the lawsuit along with Jennifer DiCuccio, said she disagreed with the action, stating it would be fiscally responsible for the district to remain with the PSBA “in lieu of spending more money to have another resource rewrite the policies and provide the training that’s needed.”