Robert Rizzo
ROYERSFORD â With little warning, and no mention on the agenda, the Spring-Ford School Board voted 8-1 Monday night to halt its search for a new superintendent and negotiate a contract with the man doing the job right now.
The motion was made in the middle of the solicitor s report by school board member Tom DiBello, who said Acting Superintendent Robert Rizzo has done an outstanding job in difficult circumstances.
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Spring-Ford School Board President Colleen Zasowski. Image from screenshot
School Board President Colleen Zasowski immediately agreed and seconded the motion which, as it turns out, is required by law not to hire Rizzo, but to direct the solicitor to draw up a contract for a board vote.
Few would question that this past year of the pandemic has been a difficult one for schools, and for the school boards that oversee them.
Through uncounted stormy meetings, difficult decisions, and always someone unhappy about them, each school board has tried to navigate its best course for both safety and optimizing education.
Perhaps that explains why incumbents comprise only a little more than 15 percent of the 64 candidates running in the May 18 primary for the 38 open seats on the nine school boards in The Mercury coverage area.
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May 3 is the last day to register to vote in this year s primary.
WEATHER
After you make up the lost hour of sleep, there s a decent day on tap. Expect plenty of sunshine (stretching all the way to 7 p.m.) and a high of about 55 degrees.
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NEWS
At 3 a.m. one September morning, Susan Omlor called the ambulance for her husband, Walt, who was having trouble breathing. She didn t see him again for two and a half months - and she was lucky. She didn t need the funeral home services she had been instructed to set up. Many in Delaware County know Walt Omlor, the affable 78-year-old director of the county s Community Services program, constable and lifelong resident of Upper Providence. Known for his positive attitude, kind demeanor and towering figure, those, along with a fair amount of prayers, may have been what saved him from a bout of COVID-19 that left him precariously close to death s door.
An increase in threats, harassment and even physical violence in the last year of the pandemic is being levied against those of Asian descent and it is cause for concern, say some local officials.
Several of them â Royersford Mayor Jenna Antoniewicz, Royersford Councilman Anil Dham, Phoenixville Mayor Peter Urscheler, Reena Kolar from the Perkiomen Valley School Board â are speaking out about the issue.
They are speaking through an open letter decrying discrimination and calling for understanding and tolerance that was also signed by three candidates for office â Erica Hermans, who is running for the Spring-Ford School Board, Sara Hughes, a candidate for the Springfield Township School Board and Susanna Ratsavong, a candidate for Springfield Township Commissioner.