The Pennsylvania State Education Association filed the suit on Friday on behalf of Roger Shoaff, teacher and former football coach at Reynolds High School, alleging he was fired as football coach after he filed a report with the state Auditor General’s Office detailing Superintendent Dr. Charles M. Cagno’s misuse of school property.

Last August, junior-senior high school Principal Joseph Torok and school psychologist Dr. Martin Friedman also filed a lawsuit alleging violation of the Whistleblower Law. The lawsuit was settled in January.

According to a news release from the PSEA, the suit alleges the school district, school board and Cagno violated the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Law when they dismissed Shoaff as football coach in January.

At the January board meeting, the board voted 5-4 to open the head football coach position. Shoaff had been the head football coach for four years.

According to the lawsuit, Shoaff, via his agent Roseanne Shoaff, sent "a good faith report" to the Auditor General regarding "waste, wrongdoing, mismanagement and other improper actions" against Cagno.

The lawsuit and the Auditor General’s report states Cagno took two aluminum bleacher planks from the school district, used a school district dump truck to haul gravel to his mother’s house and used a school district van for his own purposes.

In response to Shoaff’s report, the Auditor General’s Office conducted a special investigation, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit states the investigation also revealed Cagno failed to report his ownership of a business, Dr. Charlie’s Emporium, which manufactures custom-made rifles, on his statement of financial interest filed with the state Ethics Commission; directed a co-principal be marked present when he was absent pursuing a graduate education program; gave the same employee permission to take a vacation day in lieu of a one-day suspension and attempted to intimidate employees and inhibit their cooperation with investigators during the investigation.

The school district responded to the Auditor General’s report by having Cagno return the planks and reimburse the district for the gas mileage on the school van. In October, the board suspended Cagno for five days with the option of using five days of accrued vacation time. The Auditor General’s report commented allowing the forfeiture of vacation days was not the equivalent to suspension because there is no financial penalty, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges Cagno found out Shoaff filed the complaint with the Auditor General either through the previous lawsuit or by other means. The lawsuit also states Cagno was heard to say he would "get" the person who turned him in.

In November, Shoaff was rated as "meeting or exceeding" expectations on his performance evaluation. Later in November, Shoaff was informed the school board intended to dismiss him and open the football coaching position. The lawsuit alleges the board permitted three people to "publicly disparage" Shoaff with "false and exaggerated criticisms" at a public meeting, in violation of a board policy intended to protect staff from unnecessary harassment.

Prior to the board’s decision to open Shoaff’s position, Shoaff asked to speak with the board in executive session to address the complaints made against him and to share his evaluation. The board refused Shoaff’s request and did not give him a fair opportunity to respond to the complaints, the lawsuit said.

In the lawsuit, Shoaff is seeking the re-instatement of his position, along with back wages and benefits, litigation and attorney’s fees, an order imposing a civil fine of $500 against each defendant for each act of "wrong-doing and retaliation," a six-month suspension from public service against Cagno and an order prohibiting the defendants from further retaliation against Shoaff.