James Mitchell.jpg

Monica Banks is paying nearly $1,000 per month in tuition so her son, James Mitchell, can graduate with his class at East Pennsboro Area High School. The school board denied a tuition waiver for Mitchell after Banks moved out of the district in August. The board said it would reconsider the decision if Banks agrees to a number of stipulations, including not speaking with the media about the situation.

(Sean Simmers. )

Monica Banks feels like she's been slapped in the face by the East Pennsboro Area School Board – and it's not the first time she's felt this way.

After Banks, a single mother, moved out of the district into government-subsidized housing over the summer, the board, quoting policy, denied a waiver request she filed to allow her son, James Mitchell, to finish his senior year at East Pennsboro Area High School tuition free.

Claiming the decision flies in the face of the district's policy and involves race discrimination, Banks, who couldn't find similar housing in Enola, filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to overturn the decision in October.

The district must respond to the complaint this month. And while there's been no official movement on the matter, on Wednesday, about two weeks after the board approved a tuition-waiver request for another student, Banks received an email from the commission.

The investigator handling the case who is attempting to negotiate an agreement between Banks and the school board, told her in the email that the board would reconsider its decision at its Jan. 8 meeting, but only if Banks agrees to a number of terms outlined by the board.

However, the pact, which she and her son would both have to sign, doesn't guarantee approval of the tuition waiver. It only says the board would reconsider the request at its Jan. 8 meeting.

It also requires Banks to drop her complaint with the commission, exempting the district from any wrongdoing or unlawful conduct.

The next part of the proposed pact, which forbids her from speaking with the media or posting anything about the situation to social media sites, is what Banks said irks her the most. And she said she would not sign the agreement.

"All I want is for James to be able to finish the year out. I was so upset when I got" the email, said Banks, who now is considering hiring an attorney. "They're not guaranteeing me anything. But they want me to shut up and stop talking about it. They're bullying me."

District spokeswoman Katie Gouldner said the issue is a legal matter and that she could not discuss it. Gouldner said she forwarded PennLive's questions to district solicitor Carl P. Beard, who would be in touch with the reporter working on this story.

Beard said he could not discuss a matter under investigation with the Human Relations Commission. And he said Banks should not have shared information with PennLive regarding "confidential discussions" between the school board, the commission and herself.

The Human Relations Commission has told PennLive it could not discuss cases under investigation.

School board policy requires nonresident students to pay tuition. Parents/guardians can request tuition-waivers, however.

Not wanting the move to disrupt her son's senior year, Banks kept him enrolled at East Pennsboro and reached out to Superintendent Jay Burkhart and the school board to see if Mitchell could finish the school year without paying tuition.

When Banks approached the school board with such a request in October, the answer was no.

At the time, Gouldner said she couldn't go into specifics on the decision because it involves a student. The matter came down to policy and past practice, she said.

Gouldner told PennLive that per board policy, if a student moves prior to Sept. 30, 2014, a waiver request is denied. If a student moves after the same date, the request would be granted, she said.

That isn't stipulated in the board's policy governing seniors who live outside the district, however.

The policy reads: "for students in grade 12 - after Sept. 30 of the student's senior year, the parent/guardian shall make a written request to the superintendent or designee indicating the request for continued attendance for the 12th grade student in the district without payment of tuition. The superintendent may grant the request provided the student has not violated the code of student conduct at levels II, III or IV, has a demonstrated acceptable academic and attendance record."

Gouldner said the school board interprets the policy to mean "if a student moves prior to Sept. 30, 2014, the matter will be taken to the board of school directors. This is past practice and what our superintendent feels is best practice."

Meanwhile, Mitchell, who has been a student in the district since the second grade, has been able to continue attending East Pennsboro Area High School with help from the community.

Banks has paid her son's nearly $1,000 monthly tuition with money raised through a community fundraising website. Two East Pennsboro Township families even offered their homes to Mitchell so he could live in the district and finish out the year tuition free. One even said Banks and her two children could live in their house because they were moving to another home.

An honors' student who played for the high school football team, the situation has become a strain for Mitchell, his mother said.

The 17-year-old was unsure he would be able to continue attending school with his classmates during the first half of the year, she said. And he has a co-op position at McDonald's, which he worried he would have to drop, she said.

His grades have faltered a bit, too. Mitchell, who plans to study music recording engineering at Full Sail University in Florida next year, didn't make the honor roll during the second marking period, which Banks said isn't like her son.

Banks said there is no way she will sign an agreement with the board with no guarantee it will approve the waiver. She said she was told the board president and vice president agreed to take the request to the board again, but couldn't guarantee approval because she had intimated the board denied the request because her son is black.

Banks said the board's decision should have nothing to do with her or what she said, "this is supposed to be about my son."

Proposed Agreement

The following are terms proposed by the district, as outlined in an email from the Human Relations Commission to Banks:

The District would waive any tuition moving forward.

The parent would not need to make any payment in the month of December or January.

The Board of School Directors would entertain an agreement to resolve the case; however, the matter had to be discussed with the Board in executive session prior to the January 8, 2015 meeting.

There would be no admission of wrongdoing or unlawful conduct on the part of the District, the Board or District employees.

Both the parent and her son (student) would need to sign the Waiver and Release.

The parties would refrain from commentaries to the media, FaceBook, etc.

The parties would consider a joint release on the matter.

"Please bear in mind that the confidentiality terms are mutual, binding on both. You can't make public comment or talk to the press. Nor can Respondent. It's part of the package and if you want your son to finish the year, then the terms have to be accepted. Remember that if we do not settle, and are able to find cause in this case nevertheless, these likely would be the terms of resolution, but it will likely be months later."