Souderton residents say school board’s Thanksgiving Eve appointment is a ‘lame-duck power grab’

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The Souderton Area School Board of Directors accepted resignations from board directors Nicholas Braccio and William Brong at a special action meeting Wednesday.

A crowd, overflowing into the hallway at the district’s administration building, shouted “shame” and booed when minutes later the board proceeded to appoint Brong, whose term was set to expire in December, to take Braccio’s spot.

Speakers in the public comment portion of the meeting leveled assertions of “political gamemanship,” and characterized the meeting, announced Monday, as a “lame-duck power grab,” alleging the Republican-majority board was working to maintain an advantage before four newly-elected members — three Democrats and an Independent — assume office on Monday.

“Three of you were voted out less than a month ago,” said Maureen Kratz, a community member, former district parent and organizer with Right to Know Souderton. “Why do you have any right to have any say in who we put on this district? We didn’t want you on this board … Why are we doing this?”

An overwhelming majority of attendees at the Thanksgiving Eve meeting, some of whom sported aprons and carried oven mitts, asked the board to postpone appointing Braccio’s replacement until after the new board members were sworn in. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 600 people had signed an online petition asking for a delay in the appointment, citing the board’s 30-day window to fill a vacancy.

“This is a perfect example of why change is needed on this board and this community made it very clear that we want change. Every other district in this area follows an open and transparent process for filling vacancies, except ours,” district parent Stephanie Jamison said during the public comment portion of the meeting. “Table these resignations and appointments and initiate a public process to fill the vacancy with input from the four duly-elected board members who will be sworn in on Dec. 1. School boards are supposed to be nonpartisan. We all know those days are waiting in the past, but we could take a step today towards a more balanced, nonpartisan board, if only you have the courage to do so.”

Alexandra Wissler, one of the newly-elected board members, told WHYY News ahead of Wednesday’s meeting that the board’s decision is a “very rushed, nontransparent process.”

“We ran on a slate of accountability and transparency, so this process today goes right along with that,” she said. “We’re looking to have a better relationship with the community, a better relationship with the staff and students, and bringing it to be a more student-focused board. A lot of the things that have been happening recently, we think, have gone away from a student focus, so that will be our priority.”

Board member Kimberly Wheeler said during the meeting that she supported Brong’s appointment because of his decades of experience on the board.

“I’m voting for someone who is experienced, because as we are getting four new board members, I would like someone who also has experience,” she said. “I’ve only been on this board two years, I am still learning. There is still a lot going on, and I would like to not have five brand-new board members, which is why I voted ‘yes.’”

The board continues to face criticism stemming from board member William Formica’s lewd social media comment about former Vice President Kamala Harris, which sparked outrage and calls for his resignation in 2024. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit last November, alleging free speech and due process violations.

Following School Board President Stephen Nelson’s nomination of Brong to fill the vacancy, dozens of attendees stood up and gave their names to object under the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act.

Victor Verbeke, a Harleysville resident who served on the school board as a Republican from 2005-2009, said the board’s actions Wednesday were “improper and illegal.”

“They accepted Mr. Brong’s resignation, and … 10 seconds later, the motion was made to put him back on the board,” he said. “And I think that’s improper, and it smacks of what the issue has been here at Souderton for the past five, six years, just lack of any sunshine, or … just lack of any adherence to what the community is interested in.”

Verbeke said he wants to see less partisanship and politics on the board, and hopes that the new members contribute to that shift.

“What I hope to happen is that … from what the board present here today heard, the community, by its election three weeks ago, and by the voices heard today, we are not going to stand anymore for this lack of transparency and just this disregard of the voices of this community,” he said.