Like many families across the region, mine has been getting ready for Back-To-School over the past week – buying the requisite school supplies and connecting with friends to see who will be in the same classes. Here in the Souderton Area School District, this also includes completing our Mobile Device Use Policy, which directs our students in the general care and maintenance of their school-issued devices, as well as adhering to proper online conduct:
▪ Be polite and courteous. Leave offensive text (i.e., curse words, insults, etc.) out of blog entries and comment postings to friends.
▪ Do not post information, photos, or other items online that could embarrass you, your family or friends.
On July 27 a post on X (formerly Twitter) from School Board Director William A. Formica III surfaced in which he shared his opinion that Vice President Kamala Harris’ only professional accomplishment was that she’d performed a sex act “on a lot of dudes”.
For many in our community, the fact that this lewd and inappropriate comment came from a School Board Director was jarring. Over the next few weeks, many of Director Formica’s other Twitter comments came to light again, which illustrated his true reactionary and chauvinistic feelings on issues ranging from teachers to immigrants and race to other women:
– “Why does everyone still gush over teachers? They have the greatest gig. Can’t be fired, only work 9 months out of the year, great pension and no accountability for their performance.”
– “They [immigrants] have more rights than we do sicking. I’m going to learn spanish, do whatever I want and if caught tell them I am here illegally. That’s a get out of jail and all the free stuff I need for free card.”
– “My answer to diversity training would be ‘F off.”
– “This is all a lie being stoked by the lying left. A Black professor in Florida, way more educated than you, wrote that the slaves used the skills learned as slaves, like blacksmithing, and farming, to their benefit after slavery to earn money and support their families. TRUTH.”
Which makes Director Formica’s half-hearted apology for his “misguided and inappropriate actions” all the more hollow. If his tweet about Vice President Harris had genuinely been an isolated incident, this would be an entirely different conversation. But this is an established pattern of behavior that stretches back to well before he was appointed to the School Board in June of 2023 to replace Donna Scheuren. His choice to narrow the focus of his apology to this comment alone allowed him to exonerate himself from any responsibility for the years of misogynist and racist content he has put out on social media, indicating that his post “was directed at a national political figure, not any individual or group within our community.” And to be fair, this specific comment was, even though the misogyny expressed is inexcusable and is an attack on all women. However, many of his other comments do disparage and malign individuals and groups within our school community.
OPINION: In Souderton Area School District, Elected School Board Members Should Be Role Models
Notably absent from his missive was any apology to teachers, students, staff or faculty in the district. Instead, he atoned solely to his “supporters, those who voted for me and everyone who entrusted me with this position.”
To many of us in the school community, Director Formica’s social media postings give us pause. While his First Amendment rights absolutely allow him to share his opinions publicly, it does not afford it with impunity, especially when it impedes his ability to objectively execute the requirements of his elected office. One of the key responsibilities of a School Board Director is to “Ensure educational opportunities for all students of the school district.”
With his feelings about teachers, how can we expect him to advocate for solid teacher contracts that will keep the best and brightest educators at Souderton schools, and ensure they’re paid competitively? Will he be supportive of bilingual education measures for the 11 percent of students in our district of Hispanic heritage? If Vermilion Education knocks at our door, as they did in neighboring Pennridge, will he rubber stamp a curriculum that whitewashes US history? Will he be receptive to the Black voices in our school community?
If you’re not qualified for your job, you shouldn’t retain it. Full stop.
This is not a political witch hunt, attempting to remove a competent, experienced individual from office. This is a call for someone who is not fit for duty to step down. In fact, I can think of nothing more political than insisting someone remain in a position he is ill-suited for, solely to advance an agenda.
If Souderton is truly “a community where character counts,” then Formica’s lack of character and inability to adhere to the basic guidelines we expect of the children in our district should disqualify him from representing the parents, students, teachers and staff of the district. Any action other than demanding his immediate resignation would be “misguided and inappropriate.”
