Up until now it’s been cameras off during Lehighton Area School District board meetings held via Zoom.

On Monday night, however, the board voted 6-2 to give directors the option to be on camera.

“I have no problem allowing anyone who wants to turn them on to have that option, but it isn’t required,” Board President Larry Stern said during his yes vote.

The motion came after district resident Brian Shaner asked when board meetings would be in person again and, if they could not be in person, when cameras would be turned on.

“There is no reason an elected official can’t have a camera on them during a public meeting,” Shaner said.

At a previous board meeting, Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said the reason for cameras being off was so that participants didn’t need to worry about a family member walking by in the background while not realizing someone was in a live meeting.

On the issue of in-person meetings, Cleaver said the district doesn’t have plans at this point to make that switch. Several other school districts, such as Palmerton, Jim Thorpe and Pleasant Valley, are still holding remote meetings.

“We would still have to limit the amount of people in person with indoor COVID guidelines and right now Zoom allows the most amount of people to participate,” Cleaver said.

Director Nathan Foeller said Carbon Career & Technical Institute tried to return to in-person meetings while still offering Zoom capability, but returned to a fully virtual meeting after dealing with several logistical issues.

Wayne Wentz and Stephen Holland voted down the camera motion.

Lehighton solicitor Eric Filer, when asked by the board, said there is nothing in the law that requires a board member to turn their camera on.