Two Lehighton Area School District board members have submitted letters of resignation and a third intends to follow suit.

Byron Arner and Marianne Dwyer, who along with Richard Beltz were elected to the board in 2015, said they can "no longer be a productive voice for the voters who elected them."The trio's election swung the majority of the board in favor of renovating or repairing four existing elementary schools as opposed to constructing a new elementary center adjacent to the high school.After board member William Hill passed away on Jan. 1, the board deadlocked 4-4 on many construction issues until Carbon County Judge Roger Nanovic named Dave Krause to the vacant seat in March.Krause is a former Lehighton board member who has favored an elementary center."The reason why Mr. Arner, Mr. Beltz, and myself ran for office was to be the voice of the people, represent their needs and protect their interests," Dwyer said. "Of course that all changed when Mr. Hill passed away, God rest his soul. At that point his vacant seat should have been filled by the voters. But instead the seat was decided by a judge."While Beltz has yet to submit his resignation, he confirmed that he plans to do so."When I ran for school board I was intent on one thing, to stop the wasteful spending," Beltz said in a letter submitted to the Times News. "That is no longer possible. We are going down the same path as before. The current majority of the board along with the superintendent have one goal in mind: build monuments to themselves to cement their legacy."Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said the resignations came as a surprise to him given the positive educational programs and opportunities being offered to the students."The achievements our students and staff have received over the last several years speak volumes," Cleaver said. "As a district we continue to strive for a commitment to excellence in all areas within the entire Lehighton educational community. Our board members along with the entire staff have and will continue to work on improving the overall education for the students of Lehighton."The three departures come shortly after Hal Resh, who was board president at the time, resigned in April.Following Resh's resignation, the board voted 6-1 to appoint former member Larry Stern and 5-2 to make Gloria Bowman board president."Another vacant seat became available for all the wrong reasons," Dwyer said. "This time, the majority of the board voted their friend back in. This is wrong on every level. The voters should have decided on both seats, not a judge, not the board."Arner's concern, he said, "is the risk to the people of the school district.""There will be tax increases," Arner said. "The board seems to have forgotten that."Cleaver said Wednesday the resignation letters submitted to the district by Arner and Dwyer did not list a reason for their resignation.Bowman echoed Cleaver's surprise."They were active and positive contributing members of various committees. All of our board members, as well as all staff, continue to work hard to improve the overall education for our students." Bowman said. "I wish the members who resigned would have remained on the board in order to continue working for the betterment of our district. I would like to personally thank them for the time they did serve and wish them well."Beltz said he's concerned about the cost of the building projects coupled with the "increasing burden of the Public School Employees Retirement System.""That PSERS obligation is over 30 percent of our budget," Beltz said. "What I care about is the future, and the future of this town is bleak. No matter what the administration says, from what I have seen as a board member, I feel that the property taxes for residents of the district will likely double in the next 10 years. The fund balance being used to offset the increasing expenses of the schools will be exhausted by 2020. There is no way we can make the loan payments and the mounting teachers' pension payments without increasing taxes."After a May meeting during which the board adopted a preliminary 2016-17 operating budget with no tax increase, Lehighton Finance Director Brian Feick said the district came into 2015-16 with a $14 million fund balance, but used $6.5 million on its new athletic stadium."We're still in great shape," Feick said. "Looking out to 2018-19, we may need only a slight increase if we don't see any increased funding from the state."Beltz, however, doesn't feel the majority of the board has justified "the course of the district" to the town."Personally," he said, "I won't be a part of a board that makes backroom deals, hires unbid architects and which has no respect or concern for the future taxpayers that are attending our schools now."The board will act on the resignations at an upcoming meeting. The next meeting is a building workshop on June 13.