Mar. 14—A former PENNCREST School Board president’s attempt to stop the district from spending nearly $391,000 on laptops and tablets for all the district’s teachers was dismissed Wednesday in Crawford County Court of Common Pleas.

President Judge John Spataro ruled that plaintiff Luigi DeFranceso did not have legal standing with regard to the motion he filed seeking an injunction to halt the technology purchase.

“You have a disagreement and it’s proper to bring your disagreement to the courts — if you have standing,” Spataro said in issuing his ruling. “The proper redress for those who are unhappy with the school board is to vote for candidates who are more inclined toward their particular beliefs, not to take these issues to court.”

DeFrancesco filed a motion seeking an injunction to stop the district from buying 250 MacBook laptop and 250 iPads for faculty members following the Jan. 11 PENNCREST School Board meeting, when board members voted 6-3 to approve the purchase. In his filing, DeFrancesco, representing himself, argued that the district had not properly solicited bids prior to the approval as state law requires for purchases exceeding $22,500.

In a response, lawyers for the district argued that the purchase fell under the “single contractor” exception, which allows state agencies to omit formal bidding when only one provider is available. DeFrancesco then argued that while only one vendor — Apple Inc. — could provide MacBooks and iPads, many sources were available for laptops and tablets.

In the end, however, the argument over whether the single contractor exception applied was moot. Spataro began the hearing by reminding DeFrancesco and Thomas W. King III of Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham LLP, the law firm that represents PENNCREST, that the question confronting the court was whether DeFrancesco had standing to challenge the purchase, not whether his argument had merit.

Citing a five-part test established by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to determine “taxpayer standing” — the right to sue a governmental entity over improper use of tax revenue — Spataro enumerated how DeFrancesco failed to meet the first three criteria, stopping his explanation before addressing the final two. To pass the test, a plaintiff must satisfy all five criteria.

While an average taxpayer like DeFrancesco does not have standing to challenge the purchase, according to the judge, a competing vendor would have standing — if the process followed in making the purchase had been improper. The role of the court, he said, is to review the legality of the process followed in such a situation, not to pass judgment on the wisdom of the decision reached by the board as a result of that process.

Spataro then briefly addressed the merits of the case in remarks he acknowledged were “gratuitous” since he had already found that DeFrancesco lacked standing.

“This was perfectly legal,” the judge said. “There’s nothing illegal about it at all. … The bidding process was adhered to.”

The decision of whether to purchase Apple products or alternatives, he added, is comparable to deciding between certain types of textbooks.

Prior to Spataro’s ruling, the hearing revealed more information about the purchasing process that had been followed.

“As a result of Mr. DeFrancesco’s efforts here, the school district has done a considerable amount of work to figure out how this purchase took place,” King told the court early in the hearing.

The investigation, he continued, revealed that the purchase of Apple products had been made through PEPPM, a purchasing cooperative operated by the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit. Government purchases made through such programs are exempt from formal bidding requirements.

The use of PEPPM for the purchase was not raised during the board’s discussion of the purchase in January, nor was it mentioned in the district’s response to DeFrancesco’s injunction motion.

“I don’t think anybody knew that when this started,” King said regarding the role of the purchasing cooperative in the district’s acquisition of nearly $400,000 in computer equipment.

PENNCREST Acting Superintendent Ken Newman and Director of Technology Amanda Porter attended the hearing but did not participate in it. Board member Brian Custard also attended for much of the hearing.

After the ruling, Porter said PENNCREST’s classroom technology infrastructure is built on Apple products. Had the district been made to purchase non-Apple laptops and tablets, incorporating the new technology would likely have resulted in significant expense and training time, she said.

Despite DeFrancesco’s legal action, the purchase was executed at the recommendation of the district’s lawyers, she added. The laptops and tablets were ordered on Feb. 15; iPads and iPad cases arrived late last month while the MacBooks remain on back order.

Over the next few months, the district will replace current equipment with new. Recycling of current devices was approved by the board in February and must be completed by June 28.

Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.