An intense debate ended Monday night with Lehighton Area School District’s superintendent getting a three-year contract extension, guaranteeing his time with the district through 2023-24.

Jonathan J. Cleaver, per the terms of the extension, will receive a 2% raise each year of the pact, making his base salary for the 2021-22 school year $147,900. He will then be set to make $150,858 in 2022-23 and $153,875 in 2023-24. The contract also calls for Cleaver to have an option to sell back five remaining vacation days per year at $400 per day.

Cleaver’s contract extension passed 5-4, with Larry Stern, Stephen Holland, Nathan Foeller, Rita Spinelli and Wayne Wentz voting in favor, and David Bradley, Joy Beers, Richard Beltz and Gail Maholick opposed.

“I want to thank the board members who voted for this for their confidence,” Cleaver said. “We will continue this positive trend forward and I give credit to the other members of the administration for working together to get us back to where we need to be. Our district is very fortunate in that we are not looking at furloughs or other negative impacts. We’ve been able to bring back some programs and I think we’re headed in the right direction.”

Spinelli, one of the five board members to cast a vote in favor of extending Cleaver, said he’s been a steady, guiding presence especially through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He deserves to stay,” she said. “I talked to staff and everyone I talked to does agree he is a good superintendent as an educator. His most important job is to get kids educated and he’s done that and kept them safe.”

Bradley initially tried to make a motion that would have only extended Cleaver to the end of the 2021 calendar year. That way, he said, the new board in December could decide the future of the position.

“It’s really hard to find a superintendent in the middle of a school year,” Solicitor Eric Filer cautioned the board.

The discussion became a moot point. According to Cleaver’s contract, however, it would have automatically renewed for 2021-22 anyway because the district did not give him at least 365 days notice of termination.

“At the end of the day the district is a mess,” Bradley said. “I think sometimes you just need to change the coach.”

A motion failed 5-4 along the same voting lines for the board to issue Cleaver a notice of contract termination in the next two days that they would intend to end his contract at the end of the 2021-22 school year.

Beers also spoke out against a three-year extension.

“I’ve watched our financial situation dissolve and I’ve seen angry people from the district not liking what is going on,” she said. “I don’t think this is a good idea. I don’t think we need more of same.”

Not everyone agreed with that take.

“We have had our financial issues, but I think it’s important to remember, Mr. Cleaver is an educator, not a financial person,” Spinelli said. “People can make mistakes and fix mistakes and I think he has. He’s the best person for job because this district doesn’t need any more upheaval.”

The contract extension will ensure Cleaver hits the decade mark as Lehighton’s leader. He was initially hired as superintendent on July 1, 2012. Before that, he was he district’s coordinator of curriculum, instruction, and grants for a year and a half.