Lehighton Area School District tabled a motion Monday night to hire a third-party firm to assist with Title IX investigations on an as-needed basis.

The action would have appointed Mark Klein and School Investigation Services LLC to provide services as a special investigator to the district, but board members said they wanted time to get more information and do additional research on Klein before taking a vote.

“We just want to find out a little more on the company,” director Walter Zlomsowitch said. “We looked them up and couldn’t find a whole lot so tabling this would give time to do that research and get more information.”

Title IX investigations deal with issues such as discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, etc.

Jack Corby, acting superintendent, said the independent agency would only be brought in if the district’s initial investigation didn’t yield a solution.

“Many times this type of issue can be settled after what I call the first responders within the district conduct their investigation,” Corby said. “If it can’t however, we would look for legal guidance and that is where this person would come in. Hopefully we never need it, but as a district, we want to have our ducks in a row from that perspective.”

The contract on the table Monday night called for Klein to be paid $175/hour when working on the district’s behalf. The hourly rate for travel to and from the district for meetings and interviews would be $75.

“The way Fox Rothschild (the district’s legal firm) explained it to me is this is sort of a backup to them,” Board President Joy Beers said. “They are our solicitor and if an investigation is required, Fox Rothschild would be overseeing that and helping our staff. However, if parents are dissatisfied then there needs to be a backup, almost like a peer review to make sure the investigation was done correctly. But it doesn’t have to be this person and I think that is where the board got stuck.”