Court to hear Lehighton school board case Feb. 27

Carbon County President Judge Roger Nanovic has scheduled a Feb. 27 hearing regarding the vacancy on the Lehighton Area School District board of directors.

The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. in the Carbon County Courthouse.

Lehighton currently has two board meetings scheduled before that date.

As of Tuesday, eight people had petitioned the court to fill the vacancy. The interested candidates include Richard Beltz Sr., Francis Flickinger, Gloria J. Bowman, Duane Eidem, David Krause, Rita L. Spinelli, Timothy M. Wagner and Nathan Foeller.

Lehighton has not been able to fill the vacancy in the 30 days since it has been available.

The vacancy was created after Gail Maholick won both a four-year and a two-year term in November’s general election and chose to take the four-year term at Lehighton’s reorganization meeting on Dec. 4.

Remaining board members deadlocked 4-4 on the appointment of Beltz Sr. Directors Larry Stern, Wayne Wentz, Andrew Yenser and Steve Holland opposed the appointment, while Maholick, Joy Beers, David Bradley Sr. and Richard Beltz Jr. were in favor.

A motion to appoint Eidem never got to an official vote as Lehighton twice recessed its annual reorganization meeting in December.

Nanovic has not set a deadline for others to submit their interest in the position.

In 2016, Nanovic presided over a hearing which led to the appointment of Krause when William Hill Jr.’s death led to a vacancy.