Press release, November 24, 2025
Today the Souderton Area School District sent a community email and posted an announcement on the district website (soudertonsd.org) that a special meeting will be held in two days on Wednesday, November 26, at noon at the district administration center.
The notice says that a board member is resigning, and that they will appoint a replacement at the meeting. Social media calls are going out from members of the community calling for people to protest the rushed appointment by sending emails to the board and by showing up at the meeting on Wednesday to 1) pressure the board to postpone the appointment until next month and 2) to publicize the process by which they will be taking applications for the vacant position.
The current board is clearly performing the same kind of maneuver that they used to appoint William Formica two years ago, which then led to the more than a year long, unsettled controversy over his suitability to be on the board. In 2023 Donna Scheuren held onto her school board seat, despite serving in Harrisburg as a newly elected State Representative, until after the spring primary at which time the board unanimously nominated and approved the appointment of Formica (a Scheuren political associate) as her replacement without soliciting applications from other potential candidates.
Four candidates on the Democratic ticket (actually the Souderton Area for Responsible Leadership ticket) won the election on Nov. 4, a first-time-in- history electoral outcome. The Board President and Vice-president both lost re-election. Their final board meeting took place only days ago on Thursday, Nov. 20. No mention was made on Thursday about a resignation of one of the remaining majority of 5 Republicans. They appear to have timed the announcement of his resignation and the meeting to appoint a replacement to take place only days before the newly elected board members are sworn in on Monday, Dec. 1, in order to exclude them from the appointment decision. This look clearly like a lame duck power grab to ensure that they alone select the next board member and maintain their MAGA majority on the board.
Wednesday's protest will call for postponing the appointment until the newly elected board members are sworn in on Monday. (PA Supreme Justice Dougherty will be in Souderton to conduct the swearing in ceremony.). The call for Formica's resignation will also be renewed. Neither Mr. Formica nor the rest of the board has disavowed the values that he expressed in social media posts more than a year ago. Formica Quotes
Public Facebook pages to check include:
Souderton Area for Responsible Leadership
Richard Detwiler
Check out this article published today in the Bucks County Beacon: https://buckscountybeacon.com/...
Online Petition: https://www.change.org/p/soude...