Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors appointed former board member David Bradley in a 5-3 vote Thursday night to fill a sudden vacancy — despite repeated pleas from residents, teachers, parents and board-elect members urging the board to delay the decision until the new board is seated in December.

The appointment capped over an hour of arguments, meeting recesses and emotional testimony about Bradley’s controversial past service and the future of the district.

Bradley will fill a two-year seat that came open earlier in the night when Sean Gleaves, who had been absent from board meetings for much of the year, resigned.

Voting to seat Bradley were Joy Beers, Jeremy Glaush, Richard Beltz, April Walker and Duane Dellecker. Barbara Bowes, Kerry Sittler and Heather Neff were in opposition.

Nine district residents applied for the vacancy including Bradley, Walter Zlomsowitch, Ryan Bowman, Kasara Weinrich, Brooke Kennedy, Tod Cook, Brian Shaner, Kirk Henritzy and Tom Zimmerman.

Opposition warnings

Much of the night centered on warnings from residents and incoming board members who argued Bradley’s return would destabilize the district and reverse progress.

Board-elect member William Howland, who won a two-year seat in last week’s election, told the board that appointing Bradley “demonstrates your continued vindictive nature and your acceptance as to how the next two years will unfold.”

“No name brings more nervousness and looks of horror than citizen Bradley,” Howland said. “The appointment means unproductive meetings, fighting about the past, lawsuits, wasted money, endless right-to-knows, and fantasies about administrators walking out in handcuffs.”

Bradley served a four-year term on the board starting in 2018.

“I want to be proud when I talk to people who are not part of this community,” Lehighton teacher Christina Haupt told the board. “If he’s in one of these chairs, that’s not going to happen.”

Member elects ask to hold off on vote

Howland and three other newcomers who will join the board in December including Tim Tkach, Lory Frey and Alex Matika, told current members they believed cooperation was possible — if Thursday’s vote was postponed.

“You guys will have an opportunity to show good faith with this incoming group of directors,” Howland said. “We would love to figure out another solution to this.”

Several speakers said the vacancy should be filled by the next-highest vote-getter from last week’s election, which was Dellecker. But instead of seeking the vacancy that would have kept him on the board, Dellecker backed Bradley.

“The man is a good man,” Dellecker said of Bradley. “Past school administrations deliberately blocked him from access to public information forcing him to take the district to court. Should it have cost the school money? No. If they would have provided the public information, we would never have gotten to that point.”

Beers said she respected Bradley’s past role, stating, “I can tell you that I have a great respect for Dave Bradley, and I think he’s done a lot of good work here.” She said that years ago she felt Bradley was her “protector” when she felt isolated by a prior board.

Past conflicts, late-night meetings

Some board members questioned whether Bradley’s past term benefited the district.

Bowes described past meeting times under Bradley’s previous tenure and said, “Just be prepared. You’re going to be sitting here until 11, 11:30, 12 o’clock at night.”

“After he exposed some things that were wrong in the past and it was time to rebuild, he told me that was Joy’s job and that he was just having fun,” Bowes said. “That’s when I lost respect for him.”

Sittler, an outgoing board member, urged the board to consider long-term stability.

“We have some great people with some great ideas,” she said. “Dave is not going to get along with everybody, and he might be an obstacle. I just want you guys to do great things. I think that if you guys sit together and put your heads together as a board, you can both decide the best decision.”

At one point Thursday after a back-and-forth exchange with a meeting attendee, Walker tendered her resignation only to rescind it after a recess was called and Beers and Dellecker met with her in private.

Superintendent urges focus on students

As the meeting neared its end, Superintendent Jason Moser addressed the room.

“My job as superintendent is to work with whomever nine is sitting at this table,” he said. Moser said there were “really only two things” that mattered: “what is absolutely the best thing for students,” and “at a cost the community can afford.”

He warned that the polarization on display was damaging.

“Quite frankly, that is not good for kids, and it’s not the best thing for taxpayers,” Moser said. “There needs to be an incredible effort to put a lot of things aside moving forward.”

Vacancy triggered by Gleaves’ resignation

The seat opened after board member Gleaves announced he was leaving the district because of a job relocation.

“My career and the well-being of my family is priority above this volunteer position,” and said the timing “seems nefarious due to the recent elections,” but that he received final approval on his new home only days earlier.

“I do not want my choice to resign to negatively affect the perception of my fellow board members,” he said. “This is my choice and mine alone.”