With approximately 500 special education students served by a single director and a secretary, the Jim Thorpe Area School District board voted unanimously Wednesday to create two new positions administrators say are long overdue: a special education coordinator and a board-certified behavior analyst.

Both votes were 8-0, with one member absent.

The decisions form the administrative backbone of a broader special education expansion the district has been building toward since January, when Superintendent Robert Presley first told the board that the current structure carried real legal and financial risk.

“Special education is where you’re going to get sued, and when you get sued, it’s an easy $30,000 to $40,000 every time,” Presley said at a January workshop. Typical settlements, he said at the time, include $15,000 to $20,000 in compensatory education plus legal fees for both sides.

The solution, as Presley framed it then and the board formalized Wednesday, is dedicated oversight.

“We really need somebody that can help oversee and work with teachers and make sure IEPs are where they’re supposed to be,” Presley said.

The new special education coordinator, an Act 93 administrative position set to begin with the 2026-27 school year, drew a brief amendment before passing.

Director Michele Mazzola moved to take out job description language from the original motion, saying the board wanted more time to review those details.

“We are just approving the position creation,” board Vice President Mary Figura said after the amendment passed.

The second new hire, a board-certified behavior analyst, was described by Presley as a ground-level resource that would reach every corner of the district, not just its special education classrooms.

“A BCBA will help provide a great amount of assistance to every teacher in our district, regular ed and special ed,” Presley said. “This will be a very good hire to provide support for our staff and our students.”

Wednesday’s action also included approval of an ACCESS coordinator, an administrative assistant to be hired immediately to manage Medicaid reimbursement paperwork for transportation, services and supplies the district provides to students; a revenue stream the district has not previously tapped.

“This is time consuming, a lot of paperwork,” Presley said. “We need someone to run this program that will bring in reimbursements through Medicaid for transportation, services, supplies and other things that our students currently have.”

The three new positions come on the heels of the board’s earlier vote Tuesday to approve a new life skills classroom at L.B. Morris Elementary School for grades four through six; a move expected to return seven out-of-district students to their home school and save more than $400,000 annually.