As the 2016-17 school year inches closer, Lehighton Area School District's board of directors approved several personnel items during Monday night's meeting.

The board accepted the resignations of Elyse Matika, Title I reading teacher, effective Aug. 22; and Jacob Molchany, elementary teacher, effective Aug. 9.Employees hired Monday include Sydney Schafer, Franklin Elementary special education teacher, $40,850; Jessica Schafer, long-term high school substitute, $42,750; Terry Hartman, part-time cleaner, $7.47 per hour; Jenny Nonweiler, lunchtime aide, $7.25 per hour; Stacy Guerrero, lunchtime aide, $7.25 per hour.According to Board President Gloria Bowman, the district will start the year with seven or eight new teachers."I had an opportunity to help greet those new staff members last week and that is always a fun morning," Bowman said.Finding substitute teachers is still plaguing Lehighton and other districts, but Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver is hopeful a new state law helps ease that pain.Starting on Sept. 11, education students who are training to be teachers and have earned 60 semester hours from an accredited Pennsylvania college or university can serve as substitute teachers for no more than 10 days per district per year."We've had a lot of discussions around the board table to try and recruit substitutes," Cleaver said. "We have a lot of great colleges around and we're hopeful this will yield positive results."Cleaver added that three years ago, 16,000 education students were leaving the state colleges in Pennsylvania. That number was down to 6,000 students this year.In other action items Monday, the board:• Approved payments of $7,187.75 related to the stadium project, $2,120,950.21 related to middle school renovations, $1,795,655.15 related to high school renovations and $4,496.24 related to the proposed elementary center.• Approved occupational tax refunds for 2015 for Rodney McFarland, $245; and Carol McFarland, $122.50.• Approved an agreement with Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission for drug and alcohol education and preventive services for the 2016-17 school year. The contract is $17,500 and will be paid through the Ready-to-Learn Grant.• Approved an agreement with Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit #21 to participate in eLearn21. The annual membership fee for the two-year contract is $9,000.• Acknowledged superintendent internships for district principals Craig Reichl and Suzanne Howland, under the supervision of Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver.• Approved an agreement with Pennsylvania Treatment and Healingto provide Act 48 alternative education for disruptive youth services for the 2016-17 school year.• Approved the offering of a winter credit recovery program for students at a cost not to exceed $150 per class using the APEX learning system for 15 two-hour sessions after the first semester. The number of instructors will be determined by the number of participants. There will be no cost to the district.• Approved SAT prep classes for English and Math, at the high school. There will be no cost to the student.• Approved the Keystone Exam and Pennsylvania State Assessment after-school tutoring program for Lehighton Area School District students to be held at the high school on Tuesdays/Thursdays 2:30-4 p.m. beginning September 2016.• Approved an agreement with County Security Policy for security services at athletic events, school dances, graduation and homecoming events for the 2016-17 school year pending solicitor review and approval.