Several Lehighton Area School District board members said Monday night they would like the Carbon County District Attorney’s office to investigate the actions that led to the expenditure of over $3 million in 2016.

Payments were sent to the National Education Foundation for what was supposed to be a “no-cost” contract to create Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math academies at its three schools.

Lehighton’s deal with NEF was the subject of a state auditor general’s report in 2020, chastising the district for getting nothing in return for its money.

“This was over $3 million of taxpayers’ money that went out the door and I think we owe it to the residents to have this investigated to see if anything criminal went on here,” Barbara Bowes, an LASD school board member who was not serving in that capacity during the time the payments occurred, said.

Background

In 2014, the district applied for the Qualified Zone Academy Bond program from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and was approved for $8.5 million to support construction of a new elementary school and renovations to its middle and high schools. The district applied for another academy bond in 2016 and was approved for $6.8 million.

To comply with the requirements of the academy program, the district partnered with NEF, which pledged to give it the required 10% of the bond proceeds as an in-kind donation.

Lehighton entered into additional agreements with the private company in conjunction with the QZABs. District officials and board members were not aware, the auditor general’s report stated, these agreements cost the district more than $3 million. The agreements stipulated that the private company would assist the district in setting up STEM programs and provide the district with services, stipends, and rewards.

“The district failed to monitor the agreements,” the 2020 auditor general’s report states, “to ensure that it received goods and services in accordance with the agreements. With regard to the 2016 agreement for which it paid $1.36 million, the district did not receive any of the agreed upon services, stipends, rewards, etc.”

Going forward

In calling for the local district attorney to investigate, Bowes said that according to school code, entering into contracts of any kind where the amount spent exceeds $100 has to be presented as a motion to the board, which she said didn’t happen in this case.

“The law was clearly broken,” Bowes said. “I don’t think it is this board’s job to prove that. It is the district attorney’s job. He should look into it and make a determination. He determines whether it was criminal or not.”

Board President Joy Beers backed Bowes’ request for an investigation and polled other directors to see if they felt the same way.

“If this is going to put it to rest, then I think we should go ahead with it,” director Heather Neff said. “If there is something criminal, I’d like it to be addressed rather than sweeping it under the rug.”

Board member Nathan Foeller said he, “doesn’t have a problem making sure the district attorney is aware of the situation and giving him the option of investigating or not.”

“I just want to put it behind us either way,” director Kerry Sittler added.

Lehighton will take a vote at its next regular meeting, scheduled for Sept. 26 and, should the motion pass, Superintendent Dr. Christina Fish said she would work with Beers to draft a letter to send to the district attorney’s office.