A Biglerville High School sophomore facing expulsion for an act she says she did not commit recently defended herself in front of the school board on which her mother Tricia Plank serves.
In February of 2023, when their daughter was in eighth grade, she reportedly found a threatening message scrawled on her desk, according to comments Tricia and Phillip Plank made in a special board meeting held Wednesday.
Although the student identified herself in a public meeting and her name was listed on the public agenda, the Gettysburg Connection is choosing not to use the student’s name as she is a minor.
In his comments to the board, Phillip Plank described the incident that allegedly occurred. He said his daughter entered her Advanced Placement classroom, placed her belongings on the desk and left the open classroom to go to lunch. Approximately 35 to 40 minutes later, he said his daughter and her classmates returned to the classroom.
“When she cleared her desk, she noticed writing on her desk. What did she do? She recognized it as a threat,” and told the teacher, Phillip Plank said.
At the start of this school year — a year-and-a-half later — the student was suspended for 10 days, then an additional five days, the Planks said. She was not allowed to participate in school activities during this time.
During Wednesday’s meeting, the teenage student rose from her seat in the high school auditorium to address the board. Roughly three dozen individuals sat in the audience.
“I’ve been severely punished for something I didn’t do,” the student said. “What I did do was find a threatening message on my desk, raise my hand and tell the teacher. …I still cannot believe that I am standing here today waiting for you to decide whether you’re going to expel me for finding writing on my desk and reporting it.”
The Planks described the student’s achievements, both in the classroom and on the tennis court. They said she never faced disciplinary issues in the Upper Adams School District, which she has attended since kindergarten.
“Watching her suffer for simply doing the right thing has been the most painful experience of my life,” Phillip Plank said.
The words Tricia and Phillip Plank used to describe their daughter included kind, honest, and intelligent. Tricia Plank said her daughter aspires to be an obstetrician-gynecologist.
The student said missing the crucial start to her sophomore season on the tennis team has been especially heartbreaking, as her previous season garnered much success. Tricia Plank said her daughter started the sport at a young age and had her first job as a junior tennis instructor.
After each of the Planks spoke, many audience members clapped in response.
Parent questions timing
Long after the writing on the desk was reportedly found, Tricia Plank said Superintendent Wesley Doll called her June 24 of this year to inform her that the district would be moving toward expulsion of her daughter. She questioned why expulsion talk came before suspension.
“Given that so much time had already passed since the February 2023, incident, I didn’t understand the rush to action,” she said. “Seems like you’d want to get it right, because you potentially could ruin a child’s life.”
Notification of suspension came July 10, according to Tricia Plank, with an informal hearing set for the next day.
Tricia Plank said she asked Doll for a meeting July 18 and requested the district pause disciplinary action while the matter played out in juvenile court. She said Doll agreed to wait.
Two weeks later, Tricia Plank said she received a call from legal counsel informing her that the district would be moving forward with disciplinary action.
“What had changed? I mean, I was troubled by the fact that the previous day we had a contentious policy committee meeting,” she said.
Tricia and Phillip Plank staunchly defended their daughter.
“She’s desperate to get her life back and just be a 15-year-old girl,” Tricia Plank said. “She’s already been punished severely for unproven allegations.”
“My greatest fear is that this experience may have long term effects on her, potentially changing my innocent child to be more like me,” Phillip Plank said, his voice breaking.
Doll has declined to comment, saying he cannot speak on personal student matters. Doll was not present at Wednesday’s meeting.
Outcome unclear
After an emotional public comment period, the board moved to vote on the adjudication in the student disciplinary matter. The board did not disclose what the adjudication entailed.
The board voted 5-3, with Tricia Plank abstaining. Marya Djalal, Loren Lustig and Heather Young-Cover voted against the motion. Initially, some members of the audience interpreted the vote to mean the student had just been expelled.
At first, there were tears. Jaws hung agape. Supporters huddled around the Plank family.
Phillip Plank rose from his seat, a look of disbelief on his face. Security officers hovered nearby.
One man in the audience stepped into the aisle, pointed his finger at Gerald Walmer and yelled that he would no longer be welcome in his home. Walmer voted in favor of the motion.
After a few minutes, the Plank family exited the auditorium accompanied by their legal counsel, Paul Royer of Strausbaugh Law.
When asked directly by a reporter whether the student was just expelled, Royer declined to answer. He said the board hearing officer requested they not reveal the decision while paperwork is being finalized.
“I think it’s fair to say that the vote we heard on the recommended adjudication wasn’t entirely clear to the audience, and it wasn’t entirely clear to my clients,” Royer said. “I gave my word that we would keep this confidential for now, and that will be forthcoming when we’ve been given the appropriate clearances to do so by the school. But until then, obviously, there’s not a lot of tears down, so you can extrapolate that from what you will.”
Royer said he felt “good” and appreciated the board’s consideration, but that his work was not done.
“We have another venue to do battle in,” Royer said, “and that’s going to be the juvenile court at the appropriate time.”
Juvenile court is private to protect the rights of minors.
The school board is next scheduled to meet for its regular monthly meeting Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.
Mary Grace Kauffman, freelance reporter, worked six years as a full-time reporter for newspapers in Pennsylvania and Maryland. She has covered topics including business, crime, education, government and features. Mary Grace has a bachelor's degree in communication/journalism from Shippensburg University. She resides in Adams County.
At my family Adams County School District, kids (and everyone) are taught “See Something, Say Something.”
Apparently it’s the exact opposite at Biglerville. “See Something, Cover it Up and Pretend You Didn’t or You Will Pay the Price, Especially if We Don’t Like Your Parent.”
This is why, today I strongly advocate that parents remove their children from the public school system – homeschool is the answer. We are going to have more of this kind of dystopian environment, as we’ve had for the last four years in the Nation. Time to protect your children and literally ‘defund’ our schools and colleges. They are no longer institutions that create healthy environments for our young peoples’ hearts and minds.
Generally, facts are reported by journalists only after they are corroborated by more than one source. So far everything in the public domain ultimately comes from a single source. To my knowledge, there have been no public comments made by any school district official. Since this involves a disciplinary action of a minor the school district is rightfully reticent to comment. The Board acted, after hearing facts in a required closed hearing (closed because a minor is involved), and voted in public as is required. We elect school board members to, among other things, exercise good judgment and follow the… Read more »
Wow – really glad my kids didn’t have to go to Biglerville! If I know people who want to move into the area, I will be sure to tell them to avoid that school district.
Sounds like there are some nasty influential people there who no one would want to live near or associate with.
I am a property owner and parent that had 4 students go through all their school years at the Upper Adams School Dristrict. I am very disappointed that in such a small town School Dristrict there has to be such turmoil to the point that a parent has to get a lawyer involved to keep their child in school! I know i dont know nearly the whole story of this situation but was the writing on the desk compared to the students writing? Was the teachers classroom locked or was the teacher their when the students were eating lunch? If… Read more »