Palmerton Area School District’s board of directors voted 9-0 last week to appoint Trahn Thompson as the district’s next director of district facilities, approving an annual salary of $90,000.

The board’s vote followed months of Thompson informally leading the department. Palmerton officially assigned the duties of interim facilities director to Thompson during its meeting on Aug. 11. Under that memorandum of understanding, he continued in his maintenance role while receiving an $850 added monthly stipend to oversee “work orders, cleaning schedules, and outside contractors.”

“Trahn Thompson has been assisting us in a leadership capacity in the facilities department for the past six months,” Dr. Angela Friebolin, Palmerton superintendent, said. “During this time he has shown us an exemplary degree of facilities knowledge and proactive problem-solving ability. Trahn is identifying potential problems and bringing us solutions. He has quickly become an integral part of our leadership team, and we are excited to promote him to this administrative position.”

She also provided a detailed biography, explaining that Thompson is “a proud father of two spirited young boys” and earned an associate degree in HVAC from the Pennsylvania College of Technology. She said he worked 23 years in the engineering department at St. Luke’s Health Network, taking on roles ranging “from equipment repair to project management to risk and safety management teams.”

According to Friebolin, “the most important skill that he learned from his time at St. Luke’s was how to be kind and compassionate.” She told the board that those traits and skills were brought to Palmerton 10 years ago and that Thompson “is very much looking forward to continuing to serve the students, parents, and staff in his new role.”

Following board approval last week, directors expressed confidence in Thompson’s ability to continue to lead the facilities department.

“I just want to say he is doing a good job right here,” director Rob Moyzan said. “He will be a great addition to the administrative team. He’s extremely intelligent, extremely confident, and he takes his job very seriously.”

Joe Faenza previously worked in that position.