Phoenixville Area School District

From 2013 until 2019, Gehris cashed checks made payable to himself and to “cash,” received checks and direct deposits into his personal checking account for “start-up money” for student activities, stole cash from school programs, and obtained gift cards for personal expenditures – all in furtherance of his embezzlement scheme.

He also admitted that he hid his thefts by altering receipts and falsifying reports submitted to the Board of School Directors.

In the case of Sparacino v. Scranton School District et al,[5] Scranton teacher Jacqueline Sparacino filed a lawsuit against the district, former Superintendent McTiernan, and Northeast Intermediate School Principal Joseph Hanni.

She alleges retaliation, discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud.

[6] In a second lawsuit, Brazil v. Scranton School Board et al,[7] Jeff Brazil, the former Chief Operating Officer of the Scranton School District, claims that Superintendent Melissa McTiernan and former administrator Paul Dougherty pretended to be unaware of the environmental issues to shift the blame away from themselves and persuade the grand jury to indict him.