The Souderton Area School District School Board voted for a new board president and vice president on Monday.
Board Director Kimberly Wheeler nominated Stephen Nelson, the outgoing vice president, to serve as president. His nomination passed unanimously 8-0. Nominations for vice president were opened and Andrew Landis was nominated by Board Director Bill Brong, and seconded by outgoing president Ken Keith. He was also elected unanimously by his colleagues. Both Nelson and Landis will serve one-year terms.
Nelson read a portion of a prepared statement, thanking the board for their faith in Landis and himself. He thanked the parents, staff and community committed to continuing the mission of the district. He referred to times on past boards where they would start the meetings by reading the mission statement, and that they would return to this practice again.
He thanked Ken for his years of service as a leader, mentor and friend, again referring back to the pandemic, cyber attack and other challenges. One thing that he learned from Ken is to listen to what others have to say.
Nelson committed to listening to all sides of issues, and that his door is always open, “as long as the Sunshine Law allows it,” while chuckling at his own quip.
He said he will share his process to solving issues at the next meeting, referring to the upcoming December Action Meeting.
Nelson then thanked members of his family for understanding the sacrifice he is making undertaking this role. He reflected on his life goal (since his 30s), “to serve Almighty God and his people. I will help and encourage them to be the best person they can be.”
He will share the rest of this statement at the next meeting.
He also referred to instructions received from sermons he’s heard over recent months, and reflected on one that spoke about praying for each other. “It’s really hard to not like someone that you’re praying for.”
Prior to the vote, the meeting began with public comment by Harleysville’s Maureen Kratz, who spoke on a recurring theme by residents for the past year: transparency.
Kratz noted in a comparison of surrounding school districts meetings that “our district is the only one that tells them (us) how to behave.”
She went on to note that “it’s clear that you do not want to hear what we have to say” and “you meet the bare minimum standards of transparency.”
Kratz then pointed to BoardDocs, a website which identified itself as “Paperless Board Meetings.” She compared the meeting retention policies of Pennridge and North Penn, who both post their meetings, referring to video streams, and keep them indefinitely. Alternatively, Souderton destroys them after 1-year, a policy recently updated in February from a previous archive period of only 30 days.
Other notable comparisons made:
– They (PR/NP) record and post up to 7 meetings per month. Souderton only posts and records 2 (The 2nd Wednesday Committee meeting and 4th Thursday Action Meeting)
– Attachments related to everything being discussed at that night’s meeting are posted, including previous meeting minutes to be approved.
– Contracts, Bids, Policies, Check Registers. To date, Souderton Check registers have only been included twice.
The next scheduled meetings for the Souderton School District Board of Directors are:
- December 11th – Committee meeting at 6:30 p.m.
- December 19th – Action Meeting at 7:00 p.m.
All meetings are scheduled to be held at the District Administrative Office located at 760 Lower Road.