A Carbon County judge ruled Wednesday that he will not oust five Lehighton Area School District board members after two legal actions, one by a sitting school board member and another by a candidate, requesting their removal from office.

David Bradley Sr., who is in the final year of a four-year term on the school board, and Barbara Bowes, who is seeking a seat on the board, filed separate petitions last year seeking the removal of Larry Stern, Rita Spinelli, Nathan Foeller, Wayne Wentz and Stephen Holland. Bradley was joined in his petition by 10 other residents.

“We are not convinced the petitioners presented evidence sufficient to justify the removal of any directors,” Judge Roger Nanovic said in his ruling.

“We do not impugn the integrity of the petitioners’ claims, or their sincerity in making such claims, but believe the claims are made are for the most part honest disagreements, in part motivated by different policy objectives of the parties, but best left to the voting public to decide.”

Bradley made multiple claims in his petition, including questioning board actions in the selling of the Mahoning and East Penn elementary schools and the method used by the five in the sales, alleging the five members did not provide timely financial reporting as required under school code, and that Stern refused to call a special meeting of the board after requests from three other directors.

Removing directors from office, Nanovic wrote, is an “extraordinary form of relief,” especially when the request encompasses the majority of the board.

“With the exception of the vote to exclude Bradley from unfettered access to the financial information of the district and the decision of the board’s president not to call a special meeting at the request of three directors, the petitioners failed to present evidence as to which directors voted for those items of which they complain,” Nanovic said.

“In several instances, it appears the conduct of which the petitioners complain occurred years prior to the filing for removal and before some of the directors were even members of the board.”

Nanovic also ruled that because Bradley and Bowes “acted in good faith and in what they deemed to be the public interest,” he would not impose the cost of the lawsuit on them and instead imposed it upon the district.

On Wednesday night, Edward Rarick, district business manager, said the Lehighton district had spent just under $31,000 in 2020-21 with the King, Spry, Herman, Freund and Faul law firm to defend the matter.