As the clock struck midnight on Monday’s meeting, the glass slipper fit for Barbara Bowes as she was selected as Lehighton Area School District’s newest school board director.

Bowes, a 17-year Lehighton resident who has been attending school board meetings since early 2018, was unanimously appointed to fill a seat vacated by Wayne Wentz, who resigned last month for health reasons.

“The main reason we are here is to educate children so they can go out and become leaders of tomorrow,” Bowes said during the five-hour meeting that adjourned at 12:10 a.m. Tuesday. “That should be the main focus. We have to supply the best education we can afford at this point.”

The seat will belong to Bowes until December, though she figures to be on the board much longer as she was one of the top vote-getters in May for one of four four-year terms to be decided in November’s general election. Voters will also decide who fills the remainder of Wentz’s two-year term in November. The Republican and Democratic parties had the opportunity to nominate candidates to be on the general election ballot to serve out that term. Walter Zlomsowitch, who is also running for a four-year seat, was named the Republican candidate, while the Democrats opted not to nominate anyone.

Bowes aims to bring cohesiveness to a board that, over the past several years, has seen its share of arguments and 5-4 votes.

“I may be critical of them as an elected official, but I don’t have anything personally against anyone on the board,” she said.

Before casting a vote in Bowes’ favor, Director Nathan Foeller said he’s “always respected the time and the research that Barb puts in.”

“I’ve always said I’ll work with anyone who will put the kids first,” he added. “I feel she is able to do that. She’s made it clear that she does support the kids and is willing to examine the facts on every issue and make a decision accordingly.”

Others in the audience also backed the choice of Bowes.

“She’s very diligent in everything she does and I know she’ll bring that same quality to the board,” Lehighton resident Fred Kemmerer said.

Student safety, Bowes said, will be a top priority for her as a director. She also answered questions on the financial stability of the district.

Bowes finished fourth on the Republican ticket in May with 1,179 votes and third on the Democratic ticket with 541 votes.

Prior to the vote to appoint Bowes, a motion to appoint Dave Krause to the vacancy was rejected by a 4-3 vote. Krause had served 10 years on the board.

“All of the other applicants are running for a four-year term and will likely be around in some aspect, so I think for the two months that Mr. Krause’s experience would be an asset to the board,” Director Rita Spinelli said in nominating him.

In his comments to the board, Krause said students, education and safety were his top priorities. He also defended many of the financial decisions made in his decade as a director.

“I think I made the best decisions I could with the information I had at the time,” Krause said. “We’ve had good boards. When people don’t agree, you try to come to a consensus, make a decision as a board and move on.”

Spinelli, Foeller and Stephen Holland voted to appoint Krause, while David Bradley, Joy Beers, Gail Maholick and Richard Beltz voted no. Board President Larry Stern abstained.

Other applicants

In addition to Krause, other applicants for the vacant seat included Kerry Sittler and Jennifer Laible, both of whom are still in the running for a four-year seat in November’s election.

Laible said the board needs to move away from its “toxic environment” and get back to having conversations instead of arguments.

“Things are constantly out of control,” she said. “Some of it is shameful. My children were ashamed to listen to the meetings online during COVID-19. Everyone deserves the right to be heard, but we have lost that. We all need to work together to figure out how to move the process forward.”

Sittler also spoke of better dialogue between board members.

“We don’t have that,” she said. “We run around chasing our tails. It shows and it’s embarrassing.”

Three current directors, David Bradley, Gail Maholick and Stephen Holland, did not seek re-election and will be finishing their terms in November.

Looking forward to a new makeup of the board, Sittler is hopeful things will change.

“When we start looking at each others as human beings, it will be better,” she said. “My hope is that the new board will be more cohesive. We can do some really amazing things when we start working together as a team.”