Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors will have a new look come December with several new faces joining the mix.

Joy Beers, Barbara Bowes, Kerry Sittler and Walter Zlomsowitch, who campaigned together leading up to Tuesday’s general election, swept the four open seats.

Beers, who earned a second term, tallied the most votes with 2,483, just ahead of Bowes, who received 2,472.

Leading up to the election, Beers said her main issue with the district is that it “was not run as a professional organization.”

“Decisions are based on myths,” she said. “Poor decision-making is escalating costs.”

Bowes was appointed in September to serve as a director for just over two months following the resignation of Wayne Wentz.

Bowes said she sought a board seat “to make sure we provide the best education and extracurricular programs possible to the students, to provide them with a safe and fairly administered education, to reach out to the community for input, to run a law-abiding government, and to run a fiscally responsible district, thereby reducing future tax burdens.”

Wentz’s resignation left a two-year seat on the board up for grabs on Tuesday. Zlomsowitch won that seat with 2,495 token votes as the Democratic Party did not nominate a candidate to oppose him. He also won a four-year seat with 2,371 votes. Zlomsowitch will choose to take either the four-year or two-year seat, leaving the remaining 8 directors to appoint someone to fill the seat he does not pick.

As for his goals, Zlomsowitch said he hopes to “get the district back on solid financial ground.”

“The spending is out of control and we need to look at needs for education versus wants to keep up,” he said. “Student safety is an issue and needs to be addressed. Teachers need supplies to teach and not dig in their own pocket to do so.”

Sittler tallied 2,361 votes to earn a four-year seat. She also cited fiscal management as a key goal.

The district has been fiscally mismanaged for too many years as stated in the auditors general’s report,” Sittler said. “We need to get a strong, balanced budget and stick to it. We need to listen to our taxpayers, parents and teachers. Their voice matters.”

Falling short of the top four was Jennifer Laible, who received 1,495 votes.

Current board members David Bradley, Gail Maholick and Steve Holland did not seek re-election and will serve one more board meeting on Nov. 22.