Out-of-state move prompts resignation from school board
WEST POTTSGROVE » Pottsgrove School Board President Robert Lindgren announced his resignation at the end of Tuesday night’s meeting.
Lindgren said he has taken a job with Koontz Bryant Johnson Williams, an engineering firm based in Richmond, Va.
Because he is moving out of the district, he must step down.
Tuesday night was Lindgren’s last meeting.
His resignation takes effect Sept. 24 and the school board has 30 days to name a replacement.
Lindgren, who received his civil engineering degree from Virginia Military Institute, according to The Sanatoga Post, was elected in 2017.
His term was up this year and he did not file to seek reelection.
Solicitor Marc Davis said whomever the board selects to replace him will only serve until the end of November.
There are no contests for the four open school board seats in November and the only person running for the board who is not an incumbent is Joe Vecchio.
Lindgren served on the school board from 2003 to 2010 when he resigned from the school board because his U.S. Navy Reserve unit was sent back to Afghanistan, where he had previously served.
He was re-appointed to the board in 2016 and applying for an open seat in 2013, but not being selected. The next year Lindgren defeated former board president Rick Rabinowitz, who had supported his appointment a year earlier.
The board elected Lindgren as president in 2018, where he has remained, steering the district through the COVID-19 crisis and the selection of a new superintendent.
Lindgren, an engineer who was most comfortable serving on the district’s facilities committee, was thanked by other board members.
Tina McIntyre and Charles Nippert both said Lindgren had been a supportive mentor and Patti Grimm thanked him for both his service on the board and in the Navy Reserve, for which he served in Afghanistan.
Board member Ashley Custer joked “sometimes you really irritated people, but you were always the rock when needed. You’ve always been the go-to guy.” Lindgren practiced the respect that he preached and “you’ve always been a great leader,” she said.
“It’s been a great ride and I wish you all the best,” said Lindgren
Lindgren thanked the Pottsgrove community, saying unlike in some other places, people had remained civil and respectful even though there were strong disagreements about how the district handled COVID.