School board members in Lehighton Area School District said last week they hope to facilitate a discussion on a potential reduction of credits needed to graduate high school in the midst of a “Career Pathways Model” curriculum revamp.

Lehighton finds itself slightly above average for the region when it comes to required credits to graduate.

Ranging from 22 in Tamaqua to 28 in Palmerton, Lehighton students must earn 26 credits to get their diploma.

“I’m just interested in looking at this to see if maybe we’re trying to manufacture credits to fill a schedule,” Board President Joy Beers said. “I am a minimalist and I think it’s worth a look at how things are functioning and if that is what is best for our students. Maybe we take a look at transitioning to 24 credits over the next several years.”

Other districts also have varying requirements with Panther Valley coming in at 24 credits, Jim Thorpe at 25 and Northern Lehigh at 26.

Lehighton last changed its credit requirements shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, going from 28 to 26 four years ago.

District resident Jennifer Laible cautioned the board about potential impacts of reducing credits.

“If we eliminate any STEM fields, we eliminate opportunities for kids who might go into STEM careers,” Laible said. “That potentially drops the amount of colleges kids can get into just so we can go an easier route.”

Beers, however, said she would not be in favor of the district going in an “easier route.”

“I was thinking more about dropping the type of class that is not quite as hearty and forcing students to take a more difficult class,” Beers said. “I would not advocate for eliminating core classes or ones that might get a student into Harvard.”

Superintendent Dr. Christina Fish said the credit requirement discussion would go hand-in-hand with an upcoming yearlong process of retraining staff on the district’s “Career Pathways Model” and putting a more effective concept in place for the 2024-25 school year.

The model assists students in planning appropriate course options that will help them reach their post-secondary goals based on their interests and skills. A pathway is a broad grouping of careers that share similar characteristics and whose employment requirements call for many common interests, strengths and competences.

According to the district website, elementary students are exposed to a wide range of careers through guest speakers, videos, guidance lessons and field trips. In middle school, students are encouraged to explore their interests by completing interest inventories and gathering information about careers including working conditions, educational requirements and skills needed. In high school, students, with the help of their parents and guidance counselors, choose one of five clusters:

• Arts, Media & Communication

• Business, Finance, Technology & Entrepreneurship

• Health & Human Services

• Engineering, Science, Mathematics & Industrial Technology, or

• College Scholars.

“Career Pathways is supposed to set students up so that whatever career they decide to go into, our curriculum has led them to either go for post-secondary education or right into the industry,” Fish said. “I don’t know that we’re implementing the model in the best way right now, which is why we are looking at that revamp.”