‘Flip the board’ wins: Three newcomers to join Lehighton School Board

Three newcomers earned a seat on the Lehighton Area School District board of directors in Tuesday’s general election.

Gail Maholick was the top vote-getter for both a four-year term and a two-year term and as of late Tuesday night had not decided which of the seats she would take.

Maholick will join Joy Beers and David Bradley as fresh faces on the board.

For the four-year term, which had four seats up for grabs, Maholick tallied 2,038 votes followed by incumbent Stephen Holland with 1,955, Joy Beers with 1,833 and David Bradley with 1,669.

Missing out were incumbents Duane Eidem, 1,535 votes; Gloria Bowman, 1,466; and Libertarian candidate Frances Flickinger with 1,162.

Three candidates vied for two available two-year terms including Maholick with 2,026 votes, incumbent Larry Stern with 1,886 votes and Libertarian candidate Richard Beltz with 1,271.

Maholick, Beers and Bradley have voiced opposition to Lehighton’s decision to build a new $33 million elementary center, which will house all of its K-5 students, and shut down four existing elementary schools. The new school is set to open in September 2018.

Maholick, Beers, Bradley, Beltz and Flickinger ran with the campaign slogan “Flip the Board.”

Current board member Richard Beltz, son of the candidate, also opposed the elementary center.

The election leaves eight members in Lehighton. Beers, Maholick and Bradley will join Beltz, Holland, Stern and fellow incumbents Wayne Wentz and Andrew Yenser.

With Maholick having to choose one of the seats and vacate the other, it could leave the board at a 4-4 split in appointing its ninth and final member.

The last time that happened, following the death of William Hill Jr. in 2016, a board stalemate landed the decision in President Judge Roger Nanovic’s lap, when he chose David Krause, who was voted out in the primary election this year.