Upper Moreland School District Superintendent Goes Out On Leave But No Reason Is Given

UPPER MORELAND, PA — Upper Moreland School District Superintendent Michael Roth has taken an immediate leave of absence.

The board of school directors sent a message to the school community saying that Roth would be out on leave effective immediately, but that they could not comment further as it is a "personnel matter."

"We will provide further updates to our community when we are in a position to do so," the board wrote in the message, which was posted online. "Thank you for your understanding and your attention to this important update."

According to Roth's LinkedIn page, he has been with the district since August 2020.

The school board stated that Matthew Lentz, who currently serves as the district's chief financial officer, would be overseeing district operations on a day-to-day basis for the time being.

A special school board meeting to address personnel matters has been scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. The meeting will be an executive session, meaning the public is barred from attending.

However, if the board takes any official action, and needs to vote on any matters, the meeting would then become public and open to the community.

Meanwhile, a separate meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Upper Moreland High School as a follow-up to a Dec. 13 meeting to address various issues plaguing the district.

Patch spoke to School Board member Tom Hasani, who said that the earlier community meeting, and the one taking place Tuesday, came in response to issues such as threats and violence in schools as well as problems involving students and things like recordings and social media.

"We're trying as a community to work on how to fix [those issues]," Hasani said.

Hasani said the school district wants to be open and transparent and ensure that parents and families of district students are aware of the problems and the fact that school officials are working to address them.

The news about Roth's leave of absence is breaking, and Patch will bring you more details about the story as soon as they become available.