Souderton Area School District is sued, drops ID checks at Wednesday’s board meeting

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A lawsuit filed this week alleges Souderton Area School District violated the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act by checking photo IDs at two recent board meetings.

Joy Ramsingh, the attorney representing Souderton community members Heather Young and Maureen Kratz, said the photo ID check violates the Sunshine Act’s language stipulating that school board meetings are open to the public.

“They have started checking photo IDs … as a method to just give preferential seating to residents,” Ramsingh said. “However, if you talk to people who are there in the room and with boots on the ground, they are telling a very different story, which is that if you don’t have photo ID, you don’t get in. And the Sunshine Act doesn’t say that the meetings are open to public who have photo ID. It says to the public, period.”

Souderton Area School District did not respond to WHYY News’ requests for comment.

Ramsingh said the district’s solicitor notified her Tuesday night there would be no photo ID check at Wednesday night’s board committee meeting. It’s a decision she applauds, she said.

The lawsuit, filed in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, alleges that the photo ID check was a reaction to increased attendance and focus on school board meetings in the wake of controversy over social media posts made by board member Bill Formica.

In early August, Formica posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Vice President Kamala Harris “blew a lot of dudes” in response to a post discussing Harris’ political achievements. The comment prompted public outrage, including an online petition. Formica took down his post and his X account, writing in an apology letter that the comment was “misguided” and “inappropriate.”

“The District has looked for ways to make its meetings less accessible, in the hope of silencing its criticism,” the lawsuit reads.

The board first instituted the photo ID check at the Sept. 11 board committee meeting, arguing that it was necessary to ensure Souderton area residents and taxpayers had first access to the meeting. The move followed an Aug. 29 board action meeting, when over 500 community members attended, many of them voicing their demands for Formica to resign.

“I think that what they’re doing with this photo ID requirement, it’s such a red herring,” Ramsingh said. “Why spend taxpayer money fighting over trying to keep people out of a public meeting when you could just address underlying issues and govern and, you know, tend to your business at hand … This should not even be something that we need to fight over.”

Scores of community members have continued to call for Formica’s resignation, most recently at the Sept. 26 board action meeting, which took place at the smaller, 110-person capacity room normally used for board meetings.

Elise Bowers, a resident of the district for 35 years, said she was “pleased” the district dropped its photo ID requirement for tonight’s meeting and said the lawsuit against the district is “justified.”

Bowers and other community members who are part of the Save Souderton Coalition plan to attend Wednesday’s meeting and peacefully demonstrate outside the meeting room until doors are opened and they’re allowed inside.

“We don’t want to be disruptive. We understand the importance of the need for the school district to conduct its business,” Bowers said. “However, we still have objections to the silence of the entire board, as well as the continuation of Bill Formica being on the board.”

Board President Ken Keith and district Superintendent Frank Gallagher said Formica’s post does not represent the district’s views, but the school board has not released an official statement on the issue.

Formica will remain on the board unless he chooses to resign. He is serving a four-year term, and would be up for reelection in 2027. The school board and the district lack the authority to remove a member except under very rare circumstances, none of which apply to Formica.