Palmerton Area School District’s board of directors on Tuesday appointed Rob Moyzan to fill a vacant seat on the board through the end of the year.

Moyzan, a former longtime employee in Palmerton’s technology department and current director of technology for the Jim Thorpe Area School District, was selected by a 6-1 vote following public interviews with seven candidates. The vacancy came after board member Kris Schaible resigned last month.

The appointment is temporary and will last only until the board’s reorganization meeting, scheduled for the first Tuesday of December.

“There’s going to be an election in between now and the reorganization and there is going to be a special election just for the remainder of the two years on this term,” Solicitor Shawn Lochinger explained Tuesday.

Schaible had served nearly two years of a four-year term before resigning, meaning the winner of the special election in November will serve the remaining two years of that term.

The process for the temporary appointment included interviews with each of the seven candidates.

Director MaryJo King facilitated the questioning and explained that each candidate was asked the same three multipart questions.

Moyzan emphasized his experience and approach during the interview.

“In my current position, I had to propose some budget cuts in order to get other things in the budget that I felt were going to be more beneficial to the vast majority of teachers,” Moyzan said. “There were a group of people who were probably not happy with that, but there are decisions that come up and you have to do what you think is in the best interest of the district and its students. That is the approach I’ll try to take here.”

He also addressed how he would handle board debates.

“You have to leave your emotions outside the door when you’re serving on a board such as this,” he said. “You’re never going to agree with everybody all the time, but you have to come together to make the best decisions possible.”

Moyzan said he welcomed the opportunity to return to the district.

“I’ve spent the majority of the early part of my career here at Palmerton and I’m looking forward to the opportunity,” he added.

During board discussion, several members spoke highly of Moyzan, citing their past experiences with him.

“Rob was willing to take money out of his own pocket (when he was the Palmerton support staff union president) to get a contract and to give the ... support staff what they deserve,” Board President Earl Paules said. “He 100% is in it for the district. There is no question about it. His goal is the betterment of the school district.”

King added, “Rob and I both worked on the support staff contract. And for those of you who aren’t aware, the support staff contract is a huge umbrella … And Rob made sure that he got to each and every single one of the groups.”

Other candidates included Lynn and Dan Passerini, Gary Bonser, Magin Gursky, Kaitlyn Burke and Michael George. George received one vote from director Alyson Krawchuk.

Ultimately, board members narrowed their preferences to a few finalists based on the candidates’ answers to questions about the school board’s role and how they would handle conflict.

“We can get a little—we conflict a lot, and we’ve got a lot of strong personalities,” Krawchuk said. “But how you approach that and how you talk through those things, I really appreciated those answers.”

Moyzan was sworn in immediately following the vote.