Lawyer Joann M. Jofery has officially stated her reasons for appealing the dismissal of the effort by a group of Wheatland residents to secede from Farrell Area School District.

In a court filing Wednesday, Ms. Jofery said Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Francis J. Fornelli should not have made the petitioners prove the legitimacy of the signatures.

To start the secession process, a petition must be signed by more than half of the taxable inhabitants in Wheatland saying they want to leave a school district.

About 250 people signed the petition, and Fornelli ordered that petitioners testify in court or by deposition that they want the case to proceed. By the end of a two-day court hearing, only about 70 people had affirmed their interest.

During the first day of testimony, Ms. Jofery asked that the school district be made to prove that 51 percent of the taxable inhabitants did not sign the petition. Fornelli declined the motion, saying such an order would "stand the system on its ear."

If Fornelli's ruling was correct, then he should have defined taxable inhabitant "so that petitioners would be able to determine how many petitioners would be required," Ms. Jofery said in her court filing.

Before the hearing, attorneys said the state law governing school secession and previous secession movements have not defined the term.

The school district proposed that 339 individuals and sole-proprietorship business owners qualify as taxable inhabitants, and Ms. Jofery countered that 232 would have to sign.

Fornelli said at the hearing that he was not going to state a definition after noting that 70 did not come close to either number.

Ms. Jofery's final reason for appealing was Fornelli assigning the costs of the case to the petitioners.