A new website “Right to Know Souderton” unveiled during the public comment by Lower Salford Township’s Maureen Kratz stole the show at Souderton Area School District’s Board of Directors Action Meeting Thursday night.
Ironically, Kratz spoke immediately following the public comment of Telford conservative activist Valerie Perry, who asked the board to do a better job of making sure the positive things about the school district are highlighted in the media because, as she said, “every time someone sends me a link to a news story about our school district, it’s negative.” Perry, who has spoken publicly before about the need to highlight the accomplishments, in particular, of the district’s student athletes, said she didn’t know who is working to draw the “negative attention” to SASD, mentioning media coverage of the story of Director William Formica’s many controversial comments on social media and the recent lawsuits in which the district has found itself embroiled. She asked why the board members can’t work to generate more friendly headlines.
Kratz’s comments seemed to answer Perry’s question about why a critical lens has been focused on Souderton, mentioning increased taxes over a decade from board members who have largely campaigned on their alleged record of low taxes, as she attached a poster-sized printout of the web address to the wall behind the podium while discussing board members’ campaign videos, which are included on the website, and calling for greater transparency and accountability from the district.
There was almost no need to mention the appointment of Director William Formica, widely debated as a potential violation of Sunshine Law – even before his recent controversial social media posts.
The Right to Know Souderton website explains that Right to Know requests allow people “to ask government or public organizations, like a school district, to share information or documents they have” as a way to “access records about decisions, spending, or actions that affect the public.” The website includes instructions for submitting RTK requests, a call for support of current requests, and a mission statement that includes the goal of promoting transparency while asking “why are taxes increasing without measurable academic improvement?”
Kratz’s comments suggested that the findings uncovered by the RTK requests she and others have filed will be published on this website since they are all public documents.
Concern about transparency has become a regular point of discussion in public comments in recent years.
Upper Salford’s Corinne DeGeiso thanked the board for attaching items to their agendas, pointing out that it took several months of public comment from district residents like Alex Wisser, also of Upper Salford, who has been asking for attachments like slide presentations and itemized budget lines to be included for the public along with the agenda. DeGeiso also asked the board to livestream the meetings, a practice the district did for a while during the height of the pandemic, but which has ceased in recent years. In fact, the district video recordings can take days or even weeks to appear on the SASD website, which DeGeiso said was unacceptable. “For someone like me who has to travel for work, and many others who are unable to attend the meetings in person, many people rely on the live streaming that has to this point been provided by a district parent, and when he is unable to attend, there is no accessibility.”
Souderton’s Rosemary Buetikofer said that even though the Report of the Solicitor is on the monthly agenda, she has noticed that the report is almost always “I have no report.” Saying she understands that student expulsions, personnel matters, and current lawsuits are not able to be reported in public, Buetikofer asked what parents could expect to learn from the monthly report, adding that she believes there are certainly many things a solicitor retained by the school district is doing in the line of duty that could be explained to the public instead of hearing each month that there is no report. District Solicitor Jeffrey Sultanik was not present, but the solicitor in attendance representing Fox, Rothschild, LLP, had no report for the November Action Meeting.
Nine elected board members were present with board President Ken Keith presiding at a meeting that featured the recognition of the high school golf and football teams, a video spotlight on district support dog Wheeler, and a presentation from the student representatives that highlighted numerous events, activities, and achievements at SAHS. Among the highlights were the recent blood drive, the NHS induction ceremony, two one-act fall plays, the Souderton Rock Band fundraiser in October, the Pink-Out Day from UniteforHer.org, the Save Recycling Day that generated over 1000 pounds of recyclable material, the student-athlete leadership conference, and the beginning of winter sports. Student representatives also announced the upcoming events the school community can look forward to, including Santa at the Greenhouse sponsored by SAVE, a babysitting event sponsored by the Key Club, FAFSA completion night, and the entire winter concert series. The students also highlighted the recent brunch for veterans on Veteran’s Day that was attended by over 70 vets.
READ: Why Are Souderton Area School Board Directors Wasting Taxpayer Dollars?
But the meeting had another climax in action when several residents took to the podium to call for the district to renew the charter of the Souderton Charter School Collaborative (SCSC), which is set to expire in December. Telford’s A.J. Willouer said the charter school is often dismissed by the administration as “not fully part of the school district” when it is “right in the heart of Souderton,” and reminded the board that many students go on to attend district middle schools and the high school, pointing out in his comments that past valedictorians and some of the athletes recognized by the board earlier in the meeting were products of SCSC. Willouer was followed to the podium by two separate comments from SCSC students who gave impassioned pleas for the board to approve the renewal of the charter for their school, with one student calling it her “home.” Each student spoke for three minutes about the strengths of the collaborative, focusing on collaboration, high quality teachers who “go above and beyond” and are also “there to help you along,” project-based and problem-based learning, the “Best Self” program, hands-on learning, impactful field trips, and a focus on “projects dedicated to making change” in areas such as sustainability.
Telford resident Katie Farina used her comment to thank Mr. Formica for wearing more appropriate clothing than the 3% militia T-shirt she saw him wearing at a previous board meeting, and wished him and the board members a Happy Thanksgiving.
Public comments came to an end in another climactic moment when Upper Salford’s Becca Monroe discussed the shrinking of school libraries. Earlier this year, many books at the high school were donated and removed from the library, with some making their way to individual classroom teachers who, in some cases, gave them to students in a process that many residents on social media maligned for lack of transparency. One such example discussed in parent Facebook groups was several books by author Alex Oseman, best known for writing Heartstopper and whose novels include Radio Silence, I Was Born for This, and Loveless, reportedly given to a high school teacher who gave them to students who wanted them. Since these novels are bestsellers in high demand, their removal did not fit the explanations the district had offered that they were weeding obsolete items. Consent / Action Item 8.14 in the meeting this evening was to “approve the disposal of excess, obsolete and non-repairable equipment,” but it was unclear whether that agenda item includes or has previously included the books, and there has been little public discussion of the process by which the titles for removal have been selected, with no official weeding list published on the district’s website.
READ: Souderton Area High School Purges 3,224 Library Books
Monroe said “removing the library has been in my heart” because the district has recently shown a trend of “the deprioritization of books and libraries” that she finds disturbing.
Monroe also discussed paying for her membership to Indian Valley Public Library because Upper Salford no longer includes the library in its budget, and called attention to the fact that many in the community are without access to a free public library, reminding the audience that “The school library is the library for many of our students.” She reiterated her belief that students need to be reading real books instead of “scrolling through titles on screens all the time.”
The SASD School Board meets next for its annual reorganization meeting December 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the District Office at 760 Lower Road, Souderton. Committee meetings are scheduled for the same location on December 11 at 6:30 p.m., and the December Action Meeting will be held December 19 at 7 p.m.
