A Carbon County judge has dismissed a resident-led petition seeking the removal of Earl Paules from the Palmerton Area School District Board of Directors.

Judge Steven R. Serfass issued the order Thursday, ruling that the petition failed to comply with the verification requirements mandated by state law. The court found the filing did not meet the standards of the Public School Code of 1949 or the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure.

Specifically, the petition lacked the required “oath or affirmation of at least three” resident taxpayers.

“As the instant petition is not verified by at least three resident taxpayers of the Palmerton Area School District, we are constrained to dismiss the filing,” Serfass wrote in the court’s opinion.

The original petition, filed Jan. 2, sought Paules’ immediate removal based on “unprofessional actions toward the superintendent.”

Organizers argued that Paules is a “liability to the taxpayers, the children, and the entire district.”

The filing listed several “specific areas of concern,” including “unprofessionalism, bullying tactics, gross use of authority, and lack of ethical standards.”

Palmerton Superintendent Dr. Angela Friebolin raised concerns about Paules’ conduct during an executive session of the school board on July 15, 2025. The following day, Kalani Linnell Asroff, deputy Title IX coordinator, was appointed to oversee the investigative process.

Grand River Solutions conducted witness interviews as part of an investigation that led to a 15-page report from the Raffaele Puppio law firm. According to Puppio’s findings, Paules was responsible for 16 of 19 allegations, partly responsible for two and not responsible for one.

Danielle Jones, during Tuesday’s board meeting, spoke of the petition before the court and asked Paules to resign.

“You are a liability to this community, to this school and to the taxpayer,” she told Paules. “I’m asking you to resign because of your words, because of my wasted money.”

Petitioners had requested the case be expedited to reach a decision before Tuesday’s board meeting. The documents submitted to the court included 31 signatures from residents collected between Dec. 24, 2025, and Jan. 1, 2026.

While the court dismissed the current case, identified as No. 26-CV-0016, the ruling was made “without prejudice.”

Serfass noted that the order does not limit the “rights of the petitioners to file a properly verified petition seeking relief in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Public School Code.”

Under the state code, a removal petition must be filed by at least 10 resident taxpayers and must be verified by at least three of those individuals.