It’s teacher contract negotiation time in Lehighton Area High School District, and on Monday, school board directors set the parameters by which the beginning portion of those talks will take place.

By a 5-3 vote, directors agreed to have select members of Lehighton’s administration meet with representatives from the Lehighton Area Education Association, the union that represents district teachers, and bring any information back to the full school board for discussion.

Rita Spinelli, the board member who made the motion, said she favored the process as the most streamlined way to get information on negotiations.

“I negotiated six contracts about 25 years ago, but things were done differently then,” Spinelli said. “I was working with reasonable, professional people and I’m not sure that is the case now. I prefer administration get the information and bring it to the board. I don’t want to find out about it on YouTube in the morning.”

Voting against the motion were David Bradley, Joy Beers and Gail Maholick. Richard Beltz was absent from the meeting. Bradley suggested the board was abdicating its authority to the administration while addressing his opposition.

“We have an unsustainable budget, we are having tax increases and are expanding our debt, yet we will have no stakeholders with any skin in the game during these talks,” Bradley said.

Bradley advocated for someone from the board to sit in on the talks.

“Mr. Bradley, you have suggested that you be that person, and I would rather hang in the sun by my thumbs than let that happen,” Spinelli said.

A motion by Bradley on Monday night to have three board members oversee the negotiation process failed.

Board President Larry Stern said the early part of negotiations deal mostly with the language of the contract and less with the financial end of it. Like all employee contracts in the district, the pact would still need to be approved by the board before going into effect.

“We can meet on an ongoing basis to discuss these negotiations,” Stern said of the school board’s role. The board will be involved in the final discussion before approval of a contract. The administration has much more of an impact on language changes. All of that gets laid out first before salaries and benefits.”

The current contract with teachers was approved in November 2015 and runs through Aug. 31, 2020. At the time, district officials said the contract called for an 9.8% increase in district spending.