History

On December 9, 1965, at a convention called by the Montgomery County Superintendent of Schools under the provisions of Act 299 of the state of Pennsylvania, an interim School Board was elected to serve the newly formed school district serving Plymouth Township, Whitemarsh Township and Conshohocken Borough. Those elected to a four-year term expiring in 1969 were Mr. Carl D. Buchholz, Jr. of Lafayette Hill, Dr. D.W. Kirkpatrick of Norristown, and Mr. Richard G. Webber of Conshohocken. Those elected to a two-year term expiring in 1967 were Mr. John S. Blackburn of Norristown, Dr. Roger T. Dombrow of Lafayette Hill, Mr. Edward W. Humphrey of Plymouth Meeting, Mr. Frederick H. Knoeller of Conshohocken, Mr. Julian V. Miraglia of Conshohocken and Mr. Frank Zellner of Norristown.
The first order of business for the new Board was to elect officers. Dr. Kirkpatrick was elected President, Mr. Buchholz Vice President and Mr. Miraglia was elected Secretary.
The second order of business was to choose a name for the new District. “Colonial School District” was chosen over “Lafayette School District” by a 6-3 vote. Those who had proposed the name Lafayette withdrew the name thereby making the vote for Colonial School District unanimous.
Dr. Gerald G. Hottenstein was unanimously elected to the office of Superintendent of Schools, effective July 1, 1966, at an annual salary of $22,000.
The new district effectively combined the Plymouth Whitemarsh School District and the Conshohocken School District. With the closing of Conshohocken High School, Plymouth Whitemarsh High School became the only high school in the Colonial School District.