Jim Thorpe Area School District officials are considering creating lead teacher positions in the district’s K-8 buildings to improve communication and training.

The proposal, discussed at Wednesday’s committee meeting, would designate a teacher in each major subject area — such as math, special education and English — to serve as the primary contact for that discipline.

“When things need to get pushed out, we could train that lead teacher, and then that lead teacher could train others,” Superintendent Robert Presley said. “We get a bang for the buck.”

Currently, only the high school has department chairs.

Presley cited Northwestern Lehigh School District as an example. In that district, high school department chairs have more responsibilities and are paid $3,000, while lead teachers receive $1,200.

Compensation for the proposed positions could be structured in different ways, he said. It could be a stipend, or the district could pay hourly for after-school meetings.

The model would allow principals to meet with all the lead teachers at once and then have those teachers relay information to their departments.

“Instead of trying to meet with every single teacher, we meet with the lead teachers,” Presley said. “They take that information and run with it. That’s what they’re paid for.”

Avery Hower, who previously served as a special education department head at the high school before becoming assistant high school principal, said the approach helped streamline communication.

“It’s easier to get everyone together,” she said. “It’s easier to disseminate information rather than having everyone here as a group, and you can really hone in on what each individual area needs.”

Department heads at the high school meet more frequently than quarterly.

“Anytime we had professional development, we would meet,” Hower said. “On the data days that are built in, we break out to focus on and analyze the CDTs and see where we can go.”

In the K-8 buildings, officials said lead teachers could also help with the district’s co-teaching model.

The next step, Presley said, will be to work out the details. That includes drafting a job description, explaining how the roles would function and providing a proposed salary or stipend.

The plan, he added, will be brought back to the board once more information is available.