The attendance, or lack thereof, of at least one Lehighton Area School District director at voting meetings is raising concerns among the public.

Lehighton resident Kasara Weinrich expressed her frustration Monday night with the situation, pointing out the need for board members to attend meetings regularly. “There’s at least one, if not multiple, board members that are missing many of these meetings,” Weinrich said.

One director in particular, Zac Hunter, has not attended a regular school board meeting since February.

Interim Superintendent Jack Corby said the board is working to address the issue.

“The board is fully aware of what the policy is and the attendance,” Corby said. “It is looking earnestly into talking to this board member on whether to continue or not.”

Director Joy Beers added further clarity on the process, explaining the legal implications of missing meetings.

“The law states that if someone misses two meetings in a row, the board can remove that person,” Beers said.

However, she noted that while board members have missed meetings in the past, both in Lehighton and other districts, they were not removed.

“Mr. Hunter has missed sufficient meetings that if the board majority was so inclined, they could (take action),” Beers said. “But we can’t deliberate on that tonight.”

Lehighton only had four board members, one of whom left early, attending in person at Monday’s workshop session. Board President Jeremy Glaush had planned to participate electronically, but Lehighton’s policy states that for a director to attend via telephone, there has to be at least five directors physically present at the meeting.

“You can still hold a committee meeting with four people,” Corby said before Monday’s meeting started, “you just can’t make any decisions.”