Palmerton Area School District approved the resignation of its superintendent, Dr. Jodi Frankelli, Tuesday night, and will utilize the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit for “search services” as it looks for a new leader.

Frankelli was hired by Allentown School District as its executive director of early learning at a salary of $142,500 with a start date to be determined.

“She’s not leaving us tomorrow,” Palmerton Board President Sherry Haas said. “We could maintain her for 90 days but we obviously don’t want to keep her from doing what she needs to do. We will look into an interim superintendent. That will be part of our discussion with the IU.”

Palmerton’s contract with the IU for search services calls for an expense to the district of no more than $5,000.

Director Earl Paules was the lone director to vote against using the IU.

“We have our own human resources people here,” Paules said. “What advantage do we get by using the IU.”

Haas said the IU provides “more services than I would ever ask our own human resources director to do.”

“It is suggested that you never do your own screening within the district,” she added. “The screening of candidates is the heaviest part of this process.”

Frankelli was initially hired in Palmerton in 2020 at a salary of $125,000. Palmerton was her first superintendent job after time in the Bethlehem Area School District as both an elementary principal and later the supervisor of Early Learning, Grants and Development.

Palmerton renewed Frankelli’s contract in March 2023 when it agreed to a pact that would run through June 30, 2028. The contract called for Frankelli to make $145,000 in 2023-24 with a 3.5% increase for each of the remaining years.

During the search that led to Frankelli’s hiring, Palmerton used the Pennsylvania School Boards Association for help.

“I have been part of searches that have used PSBA and the IU,” Haas said. “I would recommend the IU a million times over. We tell them what we’re looking for. They weed out anything and everything. They have access to a lot of different websites and search agents. They put the information out there to pull people from all over the place.”

Despite not agreeing on the IU contract, Paules said he looked forward to working with his fellow directors to get the decision right.

“This is the most important decision we make as a board,” he said. “There were a lot of late nights the last time around. We have to work together as a team. Let’s make it happen.”