Lehighton Area School District is changing its meeting structure in what school board directors are hopeful is an effort to streamline committee discussions and help voting sessions run smoother.

Currently, Lehighton has individual committee meetings for topics such as finance, building and grounds, academic affairs, athletics, etc. Only several directors, usually three or four, make up each committee.

On Monday, Board President Joy Beers announced that in lieu of all the committee meetings on different nights, the district would hold a board workshop, with all directors in attendance, on the second Monday of each month.

“This brings the entire board together on one night to receive information and discuss with the public rather than many different meetings throughout the month with only a few board members there,” Beers said. “The workshop is held two weeks before our regular meeting and we would use that time in between to get any more additional information we need for the items we would be voting on at the end of the month. We hope this will make our board meetings more efficient.”

The structure is similar to how surrounding districts work their meetings, such as Palmerton Area School District, which has a full board workshop on the first Tuesday of the month and a voting meeting on the third Tuesday of the month.

Acting Superintendent Jack Corby said the workshop could also be advertised as a voting meeting if the district has business that needed acted upon immediately.

“For example, if we had someone we needed to get hired or some type of situation where we didn’t want to wait the extra two weeks, we have some flexibility to do it on that workshop night,” Corby said. “If that happens, it would be advertised and an agenda would be posted ahead of time, just as it is for a regular meeting.”