My name is Joy Beers. Many of you already know that I have served one term as school director, having been elected in 2017.

The reason that I ran for school board is because in 2016 I was threatened.

In 2016 I participated in conversations with community members regarding the planned construction projects in the school district to get a better understanding of whether or not the community supported these projects. As a consequence I was threatened by different people in different ways. I learned that other people in the community had also been threatened and they were silenced by the threats. I decided to work against the threats and to speak more loudly.

I am a Lehighton native, having graduated from Lehighton High School in 1994. I got both of my engineering degrees (bachelor’s and master’s) from Penn State and was recruited by a large architecture firm in Minneapolis. After working there for 15 years on commercial projects costing up to $100 million, I decided to return to my hometown to help my aging parents.

I started my own engineering business based right here in Lehighton when my dad’s health took a bad turn because I did not want to be commuting out of town when my parents might need me at a moment’s notice.

I am running for school board again and I am hoping that you will also vote for Kerry Sittler, Barb Bowes and Wally Zlomsowitch.

I have worked on committees that contained professionals with differing opinions and I hoped that my experience in negotiation could bring the board together.

The board needs people who care about this community and everyone in it. The three people that I have listed are three such people.