A Jim Thorpe resident and former Panther Valley elementary principal is returning to the area as Lehighton Area School District’s new assistant to the superintendent.

Lehighton’s board unanimously hired Mary Figura on Monday night at an annual salary of $117,000 effective Aug. 29.

“We are very pleased to have Mary come on board,” Lehighton Superintendent Christina Fish said after the vote. “She’s not just going to hit the ground running, she’s going to hit it sprinting.”

Figura comes to Lehighton after nearly three years with the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District near Philadelphia, where she was hired as its first-ever assistant to the superintendent for management services.

Before that, Figura worked as director of curriculum, instruction and technology in the Pine Grove School District. She also was a K-5 elementary principal in Panther Valley.

According to the job description the district approved in June, the assistant to the superintendent will be responsible for directing curriculum activities of the school district including development, implementation, evaluation, and re-evaluation of the district’s K-12 instructional program, including federal programs.

The assistant to the superintendent position has been in a state of flux the past year in Lehighton.

Last August, LASD’s board promoted high school Principal Suzanne Howland to assistant superintendent with the retirement of Tim Tkach, who was assistant to the superintendent at the time, pending at the end of 2021.

After turnover on the school board, the board rescinded that motion in January and hired Dr. Keith “Jake” Boyer to the role on an interim basis.

Boyer served until June, when Lehighton hired Christina Fish as superintendent and made former interim superintendent Jack Corby the interim assistant to the superintendent at a rate of $600 per day.

“We believe Mary is going to be a wonderful addition to our administrative team,” Fish said Monday.

Hires

In addition to Figura, Lehighton made several other hires Monday night.

They include Mary Jo Stere, social worker, with an annual salary of $48,400; Lori Hoppes, temporary first-grade teacher, with an annual salary of $44,000; Kacie Rankovich, temporary fourth-grade teacher, with an annual salary of $44,000; and Kaitlin Zettlemoyer, part-time paraprofessional, with an hourly rate of $11.40.

Resignations

The district also accepted the resignations of Thomas McCarroll, supervisor of alternative education/assistant supervisor of special services/district assessment coordinator; Nicole Sharrow, elementary learning support teacher; Shelly Frantz, summer cleaner; Nicole Baker, lunch aide; and Dawn Granche, paraprofessional.