A longtime Weatherly Area School Board director who cannot attend meetings in person due to health reasons will have a voice on the board.

Gerard “Gerry” Grega, who was first elected in 1991 but removed in 2021, was reelected this year.

And now he’ll be able to participate remotely after the recent suspension of a policy that governs attendance at meetings via electronic communications.

“I’m not doing this for me alone; I’m doing this for anybody who is an elected official in the state who might be in the same situation in the future,” Grega said of his mission to change the policy.

Grega had been attending meetings electronically due to his health, but in 2021 the policy was changed to forbid directors from attending more than two meetings by electronic means. And if they missed multiple meetings, access to their school email address was blocked.

Grega could not attend meetings in person — and directors vacated his seat.

“They removed me because I didn’t attend meetings and didn’t communicate with anybody,” Grega said.

He successfully ran for office in 2023 but was unable to serve because of a turn in his health.

Grega wasn’t planning to run in the most recent election but when he realized there were open slots on the ballot, he ran a write-in campaign for both 2- and 4-year terms.

“I didn’t want to let them defeat me in 2021. I was going to show that either the people were going to vote me down and I wouldn’t get back on or I’m getting back on and I’m going to fight to stay on — and attend all meetings electronically and executive sessions,” he explained.

He won both seats in the primary and the November general election, and was recently installed to the 4-year term.

Before taking the oath of office, Grega emailed the board to suggest a change to the policy.

He asked that directors “remove that unfair restriction of only allowing remote participation by 2 (per) calendar year so any board member (not just me) could attend remotely — when necessary — to allow for more complete attendance by all board members.”

In the email, he noted that voting remotely “is equally as legitimate” as an in-person vote.

“These remote participations happen routinely now in school districts across the Commonwealth, as well as other public taxpayer-funded municipalities ... that technology exists today,” Grega wrote in the email.

During a recent meeting, directors voted to suspend the policy until it can be updated.

“We want to explore all of our options and gather some additional information,” board President April Walters explained. “In the time being, we would like to suspend the two meeting call in limit, and allow the two members to participate in all meetings, including executive sessions, until we come up with a decision.”

“The policy is suspended, I am going to be allowed to attend executive sessions,” Grega said.