A Souderton Area School District resident condemns the school board for its response to a member’s objectionable social media posts about Vice President Kamala Harris. Photo by John Worthington | The Reporter.
The disruptions were in response to an X post by board member Bill Formica accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of engaging in a sex act.
The Souderton Area School Board’s education-personnel committee meeting Wednesday evening was recessed to a later date following repeated public disruptions over a school board member’s objectionable social media posts.
“We are going to take a recess to a later date that will be announced,” said education-personnel committee chair Andrew Landis.
The disruptions were in response to an X post by board member Bill Formica accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of engaging in a sex act. The post has prompted widespread community outrage and a petition demanding Formica’s resignation. As of Thursday morning, the petition has garnered over 1,800 signatures.
While Formica eventually deleted the post, he later doubled down on his company Facebook page, accusing Harris of engaging in additional sex acts and declaring his support for an indefinite Trump presidency.
In response to the backlash, Superintendent Frank Gallagher and board president Ken Keith issued a statement acknowledging that Formica used “inappropriate language” and “poor judgment” and requesting time to “process” the situation.
But at Wednesday’s meeting, a packed house of residents overwhelmingly deemed the board’s response as insufficient and demanded Formica’s resignation. Formica, who has declined to comment on the controversy, was not in attendance at the meeting.
Tensions rose when board vice president Stephen Nelson informed attendees that public comments would be limited to agenda items, which included presentations on elementary social studies curriculum revisions and end-of-year data on student performance.
“Committee meetings have always been scheduled this way,” said Nelson. “The appropriate time to make comments is the board action meeting.”
However, many members of the public interjected, requesting that the board amend the agenda to permit non-agenda public comments or call a special meeting to address the issue.
Following repeated disruptions, the board took a brief recess before returning. A visibly agitated Gallagher warned the crowd that the board needed to follow the agenda.
“We have a specific agenda tonight for education/personnel. We need to stick to that agenda,” said Gallagher. “The board, neither the administration has the authority by law to remove Mr. Formica.”
“That’s not the most pressing issue in the school district,” replied one woman. “We need to change the agenda. Our children deserve better than what you’re giving us. This is despicable.”
“If you keep on interrupting, we’re done,” said Nelson. "Those are the rules. We’re here for curriculum and education/personnel. If you want to say something other than that, I will have you escorted out.”
“I am not gonna stop until my child is protected,” said the woman.
Unable to maintain order, the board recessed the committee meeting until a later date, eliciting shouts of “shame” and “cowards” from attendees.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said a resident. “The sign says a community where character counts. How can you let this happen?”
“Shame on you. You wasted everyone’s time,” said another.
Following the meeting, some community members expressed disappointment at the board’s conduct, saying that the gravity of the situation warranted a response from board members.
“They can’t make him resign, but they could call for his resignation and say they’re disappointed or they don’t approve of it,” said retired teacher and former school board candidate Rosemary Buetikofer. “If they would like to share how they feel about what Formica said, that could be helpful to the community.”
“Let us know that they’re not standing by him,” added parent John Waldenberger. “They can’t remove him but they can pass a resolution to condemn it. They could also remove him from committees and censure him. All we need is for them to address it.”
Former school board candidate Scott Swindells acknowledged that committee meetings limit public comments to agenda items but faulted the board for failing to adequately address the issue.
“I don’t fault people for speaking because they should’ve handled this by now. They should’ve had a communication before this night,” said Swindells. “I don’t know how much more time you need to address it. Some of the things he said were atrocious.”
“If there’s something going on the community, they should have some way of addressing it,” added Swindells’ wife Sarah. “They should have said, ‘We’re gonna have some special meeting about it and here’s the date.’ This is what happens when you don’t address things. You end up with unrest and don’t get things done.”
The board has yet to announce a date for the rescheduled education-personnel committee meeting. The next board action meeting is on August 29 at 7 p.m. For more information, visit soudertonsd.org.
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