Filling an unexpired term of office on the municipal or school district level is a rare occurrence for the Carbon County Court of Common Pleas, as governing bodies typically fill vacancies within the 30-day limit they are allowed by law.

But when William Hill Jr., a Lehighton Area School Board member, passed away on Jan. 1, the vacancy created unusual circumstances since the board is divided over the controversial building program currently underway in the district.With the composition of the board now standing at 4-4 on that issue, the board’s 30 days to fill the vacancy passed.Petitions have been filed in the Carbon County Prothonotary’s office, asking the court to appoint one of six people whose names are contained in those filings: Larry Stern, David Krause, Duane Eidem, Stacey Lynn Duerst, Frank Tamburri and David F. Bradley Sr.Since the school board factions were unable to get sufficient votes to appoint candidates of their choice, which would have tipped the scale one way or another in the building project argument, the decision of President Judge Roger Nanovic could decide whether or not Lehighton continues with the plan to build a new elementary center. That center would replace the existing schools in Lehighton and Mahoning, East Penn and Franklin townships.It happened in WeatherlyWhile few, if any, people recall the court system having been the method used to fill a school board seat, that’s exactly what happened almost 17 years ago in the Weatherly Area School District, wherea divided board failed to fill positions within the 30 days.Judge Richard W. Webb presided over the Court of Common Pleas case in May 1999, after four Weatherly board members resigned on March 18 of that year because they would not, or could not, adhere to a mandatory contract negotiation schedule Webb had set in place.At the time, the district was embroiled in a three-year-old labor dispute. Its teachers were without a contract since the 1996 school year ended.Three strikes in the 1998-99 school year prompted the Pennsylvania Department of Education to file a petition that went to Webb, asking him to order the teachers back to the classroom.The department said if the strikes continued, Weatherly would not have been able to get the mandatory 180 school days in by June 30.Ruling on that petition, Webb ordered the teachers back to the classroom on March 3, and also ordered daily face-to-face negotiations.He ordered the board and the teachers’ negotiating committees to meet daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and again from 7-10 p.m., with the teachers ordered to attend the evening sessions as well.After receiving complaints from board members who said their full-time jobs were in jeopardy, Webb changed his order for the negotiations, mandating the parties meet nightly from 7-10 o’clock and on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.The forced negotiations didn’t sit well with directors George Schneider, John W. Hart, James B. Gregory and Donna M. Andrews, as they resigned not long after the mandated discussions began.That left five board members holding positions: Thelma Kew, Bonita Barbush-Boothe, Gerard Grega, Kenneth Minnich and Benjamin Bird.Board failed to fill seatSince the board was scheduled to meet in April, Webb suspended the order for negotiations for 30 days to give the remaining members a chance to seek candidates.The board was ready to name the replacements in April, but Grega failed to attend the meeting, resulting in the lack of a quorum, and the other four members were unable to meet. They lost their appointing power when the 30-day period elapsed.Subsequently, petitions filed in the prothonotary’s office were on behalf of nine people, including the four who had resigned, as well as Donald J. Stump Sr., John Kudlick, Paul James Sipler, Nancy J. Pilecki and Bonnie J. Vassallo.Webb held a hearing on the petitions on May 4, 1999, and he questioned the candidates who were present.At the conclusion of the proceeding, Webb appointed Schneider, Kudlick, Stump and Pilecki to the board and rejected the petitions filed on behalf of Gregory, Sipler and Vassallo, who attended the hearing, as well as those seeking the appointment of Andrews and Hart, who did not attend the proceeding.Webb told attorneys for both the board and the teachers that forced negotiations would commence on May 15.Rift ended in two weeksAfterward, the judge commented the event was a sad day for the court. He said he would rather the posts had been filled by the remaining board members, but since they could not do that, the state school code put the responsibility on the court.Webb said the four resignations paralyzed the district and the ongoing labor dispute had gone on “much too long.” He called the dispute “intolerable,” saying it had to be settled.In less than two weeks, the contract squabble was over. On May 19, 1999, after three years of strife, the school board ratified a $1.53 million teachers’ contract that spanned seven years, detailing financial concerns back to 1996 and giving the teachers a contract through 2002.The vote was 7-2. Grega and Schneider voted against the pact while three of the four appointed directors (Stump, Pilecki and Kudlick) joined Kew, Bird, Barbush-Boothe and Minnick in ending the dispute that, like Lehighton’s situation, stood at a standstill until it was resolved by the court.