A vote to hire a new employee at Jim Thorpe Area School District went through three rounds before finally failing.

The motion called for the hiring of a new administrative assistant for the district, which initially failed during the policy and personnel committee section of Monday's school board meeting. Three board members abstained from the vote, with Vice President Pearl Downs-Sheckler explaining her reasoning afterward."It's not the person. It's the way it was done that I'm not satisfied with," Downs-Sheckler said. "We have a hiring process in the district, and for some reason, recently, the process has not been followed."Certain necessary documents were allegedly not included during the hiring process.The motion was reintroduced just before the meeting adjourned, with the board voting in approval. However, this was due to the temporary absence of board member Michael Huber, who was attending the meeting via conference call. Huber's call had ended before the vote, thus he was counted as absent at that point.Following the approval, it was debated whether Huber was due a vote, since was present during the initial motion. The board temporarily adjourned while a member attempted to reach him.Once Huber was contacted, the motion was presented a third time, and ultimately failed.Downs-Sheckler said a similar incident in which a hire was not approved occurred recently. Once the correct forms were presented, the motion was reintroduced and passed.To prevent further difficulties with hiring decisions, adjustments to the hiring standard will be made."We have a process, and we're going to have a meeting to turn it into a policy," Downs-Sheckler said.In other matters• Renee Schoch's resignation as a paraprofessional was accepted.• Four new paraprofessionals, Beverly Galasso, Christine Eckert, Nichole Fischer and Taylor Kennedy, were hired at a rate of $11 per hour.• Tonia Schaeffer, business education teacher, was moved to BS Step 5 at the rate of $49,100.• Ashley Andrews was hired as a long-term substitute gifted teacher at the rate of $45,100.