NORTHAMPTON, Pa. — Northampton Area School Board could have a new member as early as this week after school directors failed to fill a vacant seat for the second time — and once again kicked the decision to a county judge.
Northampton County Court will appoint a new school director on or after May 31, according to a statement from county President Judge Craig Dally’s office.
The director will represent Region 2, which covers Northampton Borough and East Allen Township. The seat has been vacant since mid-March, when Director Chuck Frantz resigned.
Last week, the school board forwarded resumes to Dally for the seven people who applied for the Region 2 seat, but asked the court to choose between the directors’ top two candidates: Nathan Lichtenwalner and Christine Steigerwalt.
Dally’s office said all seven applicants will be considered.
The other applicants are Michael Buckley, Shelby Fabian, William Jones, Maggie Kemp and Fran Shehab.
Back and forth
The board first failed to appoint someone to the vacant seat in April, when the applicants participated in public interviews for the role.
At the time, five school directors — Michael Baird, John Becker, Joshua Harris, Ross Makary and board President Doug Vaughn — abstained at least once on three separate motions to appoint a candidate.
As a result, no candidate got enough votes to be appointed.
Shortly after, resident Joan Begliomini petitioned the court to appoint Steigerwalt to the vacancy. That filing took the authority for filling the vacancy away from the board and placed it in the hands of the court.
“The way this board has handled this is a joke.”School board member Joshua Harris, at May 8 meeting
Kemp and Jones subsequently petitioned the court to be considered for the vacancy, as well. Lichtenwalner attended Dally’s May 1 hearing on the matter with the documents needed to file a petition, but did not submit them.
Instead of appointing anyone, Dally gave directors until June 3 to fill the vacancy before the court would step in to review applicants for them.
Dally said he made his decision out of concern board policy may not have been followed when multiple school directors abstained from voting on candidates.
The eight-member school board took another shot at filling the vacancy at a May 8 special meeting.
Directors voted seven times before reaching a final deadlock with Lichtenwalner and Steigerwalt each getting four votes. The board then decided to ask Dally to make the final decision.
Vice President Kristin Soldridge, as well as directors Kim Bretzik, Brian McCulloch and Harris voted for Lichtenwalner. Vaughn, Baird, Becker and Makary voted for Steigerwalt.
The candidates
Lichtenwalner is a deputy sheriff in Northampton County, and Steigerwalt is a former teacher and school administrator who has worked in Northampton Area and Palmerton Area school districts.
When it comes to the other applicants, Buckley is an Epic credentialed trainer at St. Luke's University Health Network; Fabian is a mechanical engineer; Jones is a software engineer; Kemp works for a local temporary staffing agency and is a former NASD board member; and Shehab is a reading paraprofessional in another local school district.
Jones also was nominated and considered at the May 8 meeting before losing to Lichtenwalner in a run-off. In earlier votes, Jones got support from directors Bretzik and McCulloch.
Jones unsuccessfully ran for school board as a Republican in the November 2023 election; at the time, he was endorsed by the Northampton County chapter of Moms for Liberty.
Frustrations boil over
The discussions among current school directors at the May 8 meeting put board tensions on full display.
At times, directors spoke over each other and were clearly frustrated with one another and the process.
Harris apologized to everyone who applied, and said, “The way this board has handled this is a joke.”
Bretzik was disappointed residents took the matter to the court to begin with, and at one point, suggested the board select an applicant via coin toss.
McCulloch accused fellow board members of conspiring with community members to have the court select Steigerwalt; Harris entertained this theory, as well.
Vaughn denied this accusation, as did Begliomini — the resident who filed the petition — at a subsequent meeting.
Directors who supported Steigerwalt said they voted for her because of her focus on the current challenges facing NASD, as well as her background as an educator.
Her experience as an administrator means she's familiar with school budgets and hiring — both of which are relevant to the school board's work, they said.
“As a principal, she basically face[d] on a smaller scale all the things we face,” Becker said.
Education-heavy
But other directors said they saw Steigerwalt’s teaching background as a drawback.
Soldridge expressed concern about having too many educators on the board. She said she doesn't believe teachers would prioritize the interests of taxpayers.
Makary is a current teacher. Baird and Becker are retired educators.
“She does have a significant education background, and I feel that trying to explain and asking her to sway to a different opinion and to look at something differently would be very difficult because of her prior experience,” Soldridge said of Steigerwalt.
Soldridge and Harris said Lichtenwalner would be a better appointment because he would not be as biased toward district teachers.
They also said his law enforcement background would be an asset to the board.
“I believe he’s the most neutral,” Harris said.
