Lehighton could become the next municipality to do away with its crossing guard agreement next school year.

That appeared to be the consensus as borough council pondered crossing guard vacancies and planning on Monday.

Councilwoman Autumn Abelovsky said Palmerton recently made the decision to place the responsibility of crossing guards back to Palmerton Area School District.

“I don’t feel comfortable encouraging parents to tell their kids to cross where we don’t have the manpower,” Abelovsky said. “I don’t feel comfortable to encourage them to use crosswalks that aren’t covered.”

Police Chief Brian Biechy said the main issue is that basically no one is applying to be a crossing guard in the borough.

Biechy said they’ve been trying to hold to the agreement that’s been in place with Lehighton Area School District.

Councilman Ryan Saunders said it’s become evident the borough doesn’t have the staffing to fulfill that need, and believes the school district would have a much better pool of people to pull from.

Abelovsky reiterated that her concern is the safety of the students.

“I just feel like we are unable to do our best job at this time,” she said. “I think the school district would (be able to do a better job).”

Council said it would look to fulfill the contract for the rest of the current school year.

Borough Manager Nicole Beckett said there’s a resolution that dates back many years between the borough and the school district.

“There should be discussion with the district,” Beckett said.

Councilman Donnie Rehrig agreed, and added it would give the school district a chance to account for it in their budget.

Last month, Palmerton Borough Council voted to end its crossing guard contract with Palmerton Area School District effective in the 2022-2023 school year.

Councilman Kris Hoffner said the contract arrangement has been in place since 2009 for the borough to provide crossing guards at the two schools in the borough.

Palmerton Borough Manager Donna McGarry added the borough provided crossing guards before that.

Hoffner said they had 24 call-offs of crossing guards in February, which resulted in Palmerton’s patrol officers having to fill in.

As of the start of the 2022-2023 school year, Palmerton Area School District will be in charge of providing its own crossing guards.