Upper Moreland School Board vote and race/gender comment make national news

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December 11th, 2022 | By Ryan Genova

A controversial comment and vote by members of the Upper Moreland School Board have caught the attention of national outlets.

MSN.com and The Washington Examiner reported that the Board voted 8-1 last week against Gregory D’Elia’s presidency partly because he is a “cis, white male.” One board member openly admitted that her vote was based on race and sexuality. Of the nine-member Board, D’Elia’s only vote came from himself.

“I believe that Mr. D’Elia would make an excellent president,” Board member Jennifer Solot said on Tuesday. “However, I feel that electing the only cis, white male president of this district sends the wrong message to our community — a message that is contrary to what we as a board have been trying to accomplish.”

Solot added: “I think it’s important that we practice what we preach and that our words have strength when they are spoken, whether we speak them from the neighborhood sidewalks or from behind these tables.” She expressed support for Board member April Stainback.

Stainback and D’Elia were the Board’s only nominees.

After Solot offered her comments, Board member Sarah Byrnes said, “This is very hard to do as the new person on the board.” Byrnes then confirmed her vote for Stainback.

D’Elia was supported by the Upper Moreland Democrats when he ran in 2019. The father of three received a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Penn State in 2005. According to a 2019 candidate questionnaire, he holds four U.S. patents and “headed design and installation on guy lines on the new One World Trade Center.”

The Examiner has reached out to D’Elia for comment, and Philly’s Broad and Liberty has requested further comment from all nine Board members.

For more coverage, you can check out MSN’s article here. The full board meeting is here: