Spring-Ford School Board Nominates Shafer's Replacement

The Spring-Ford Area School District board held a special meeting on Thursday night to interview eight candidates for the Region 1 board seat recently vacated by David Shafer.

The board interviewed each candidate, asking a range of questions of each one. By the end of the nearly four-hour meeting, they had reached a consensus on one candidate - Royersford resident Will Cromley.

Cromley, a former Spring-Ford teacher and librarian, has been active with multiple board committees and at board meetings, according to comments made by him and the board members. 

After hearing from all the candidates, each board member told the rest of the board which candidates they liked most. Cromley was a unanimous pick.

Wenhong Luo, a business professor at Villanova, was on six board members' lists. 

Questions for each candidate included (but was not limited to) such topics as what major challenges they believe the district faces; how they would handle being on the losing side of a board vote; how they would spend a hypothetical $2M in unexpected revenue; and their feelings on charter schools and vouchers. 

Several of the candidates are Spring-Ford alumni; nearly all have children in the district.

Many pointed out Spring-Ford's great reputation. Cromley told the board he didn't feel that the 8th Grade Center was getting enough recognition of its National Blue Ribbon award. 

The board's agreement on Cromley means that his nomination will be open for public comment at the October 15 board meeting before the board officially votes to seat him. 

"We had great candidates," board vice-president Joseph Ciresi said.

Board president Thomas DiBello agreed. "We had an opportunity to talk to some great people from different walks of life," he said.