A group of Tamaqua parents filed a lawsuit in Schuylkill County Court on Thursday afternoon alleging Tamaqua Area School District board members exceeded their authority by approving a policy authorizing teachers to carry firearms in school.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Holly Koscak, parent of a high school student; Darrell L. Flack, Jr. and Angela M. Flack, who have three children in the district; and Sara J. Theirer, who has three grandchildren in school. The group is being represented by Philadelphia-based attorneys Martin J. Black and Benjamin McAnaney of Dechert LLP.

Tamaqua’s teacher union has also filed a lawsuit in opposition to the policy. In that case, district solicitor Jeffrey Bowe filed preliminary objections to the lawsuit, arguing that there is “no specific state either authorizing or preventing” in the school code the district from adopting the policy.

CeaseFirePA’s Shira Goodman, plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and members of Tamaqua Citizens for Safe Schools are holding a press conference Friday at noon to announce the filing of the lawsuit at the Tamaqua Railroad Station.

“Parents are worried about the safety of their children,” Goodman, who is a liaison between parents and the lawyers representing them, said on Thursday.

Tamaqua is the first school district in the state to adopt a policy that would allow teachers to carry firearms in school.

At a Nov. 7 school board meeting, parents and community members in the district laid out extensive alternatives to the policy, including better screening of visitors, infrastructure changes, shooter detection systems, and investments in mental health support and threat assessments.