Lehighton Area School District intends to close a post office box it opened in Palmerton last year to take suggestions and input from stakeholders.

Former Lehighton director David Bradley pushed for the box during a September 2021 meeting on student safety, suggesting it could be another way residents would be able to interact with the district.

Board President Joy Beers, however, said Monday night that most of the mail that hits the box is advertisements and one of the only letters sent by a resident was a printed out copy of something they had also emailed to the district.

“The post office box costs $70 per year and in lieu of that, we are looking at adding a complaint form to our website that parents or taxpayers can use to submit items to the district,” Beers said.

The idea of an official “complaint” form has been tossed around for several years.

A draft form was attached to Monday night’s workshop agenda. In addition to information on who is filling out the form, it asks for the person or department the complaint is being filed against, a description of the incident, applicable documents supporting the complainant’s position, and contact information for anyone who could provide additional information.

“This was generated from past discussion about the fact that some people felt afraid to submit a complaint to the district and there was no official form for them to do so,” director Barbara Bowes said.

Directors on Monday discussed whether the form would be something that could be printed out and mailed in, or if it would be an online form filled out on the website and submitted.

“I would think it could be something we would have on the website in the community section,” Superintendent Dr. Christina Fish said.

Beers said the district would work to ensure stakeholders were aware of resolutions to the complaints.

“I think in the past people who made complaints felt there was no resolution, but they may just not have known what that resolution was,” Beers said.

Directors and administrators stressed that even with an official complaint form, anyone with an issue is encouraged to follow the chain of command from classroom teachers to building principals to the superintendent and lastly the school board when a problem arises.

“I think this form is a great step forward in helping to fix some of the things that had been going on in the district,” director Jeremy Glaush said.