Palmerton Area School District’s board of directors elected new leadership Saturday, choosing Sherry Haas as president and Brandon Mazepa as vice president for one-year terms after close, two-way contests for both positions.

The presidency vote split 5-4 with Earl Paules, Danielle Paules, Brandon Mazepa and Magin Gursky supporting Haas, while Erin Snyder, Stacey Connell and Alyson Krawchuk-Boschen voted for MaryJo King. King and Haas each voted for themselves, leading to the final tally.

Mazepa was elected vice president along the same 5-4 voting lines.

Danielle Paules will continue to serve as Palmerton’s Pennsylvania School Boards Association liaison for another year. Snyder was confirmed as the district’s alternate representative to the Carbon Career and Technical Institute Joint Operating Committee.

Earlier in the meeting, King had been unanimously appointed temporary president. She used that role to read the official certificates of election for board members who won seats in November. The Carbon County Board of Elections certified the elections of Connell, Gursky, Earl and Danielle Paules, and Erin Snyder. Connell, Snyder and the Paules’ will be serving four-year terms, while Gursky was seated to a two-year position.

A significant portion of the meeting focused on the 2026 board meeting calendar, which may change, Haas said, following Shawn Lochinger’s resignation as lead legal counsel for the district.

Palmerton contracts with the Sweet, Stevens, Katz and Williams firm, which Lochinger is a part of, but now needs a new lawyer from the group.

Haas said she contacted attorney Sharon Montanye and asked whether she could serve the board moving forward.

“She is willing to become our board counsel,” Haas said. “However, in order to retain her, we would need to change the future dates of our meetings.”

Palmerton has historically met on the first Tuesday of each month for a board workshop and the third Tuesday for a regular board meeting. A proposed change to the second and fourth Tuesday of the month for meetings was tabled.

The board ultimately approved holding a workshop meeting on Jan. 6, which will allow time to finalize the rest of the 2026 schedule.