Upper St. Clair School Board elects leadership, welcomes new members
Members of Upper St. Clair School Board elected Philip Elias as president and Daphna Gans as vice president during the annual reorganization meeting Dec. 6. Both offices are one-year appointments.
Elias, who served as vice president during 2021, was first elected to the school board in 2015. Gans is beginning her second, four-year term on the school board.
Superintendent John Rozzo thanked Patrick Hewitt, outgoing president, for his leadership.
Three board members were sworn in by Judge Arnold Klein of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Jennifer Schnore, who was re-elected in November, will serve another four-year term on the school board. The school board welcomed newly elected board members Michael Mascaro and Danielle Wetzel.
An 18-year resident of Upper St. Clair, Wetzel serves as a professor and director of writing and communication at Carnegie Mellon University. She is experienced in teacher training, curriculum design and assessment. She and her husband, Robert, have four daughters, three enrolled in Upper St. Clair schools plus a 2020 graduate.
Mascaro, a 1992 Upper St. Clair High School graduate, is a lifetime resident of the township. As executive vice president for Mascaro Construction Co., he oversees the organization’s human resources, wellness, marketing and business development departments. He and his wife, Libby, have two daughters in middle school.
Wetzel and Mascaro take over for Jennifer Bowen, who served one four-year term, and Louis Mafrice Jr., who served three terms for a total of 12 years. Neither sought re-election.
On Nov. 8, the school board accepted the resignation of Amy Billerbeck, a 14-year member of the school board. By law, school boards must name a replacement within 30 days.
In order to help ensure continuity, the board unanimously approved the appointment of Mafrice to serve the remaining two years of Billerbeck’s four-year term.