Jim Thorpe school board members have appointed a long time public servant to fill a two-year vacancy on the board.

The board voted 5-0 to appoint Randall Smith to the seat.Smith is retired from the Carbon County Administrator's office and previously served on the Jim Thorpe School Board.He replaces Robert Schaninger, who resigned last month for personal reasons after winning a four-year term. However, Smith will have to run again during the next municipal election, in 2017.Since he left the board in 2011, Smith has continued to represent the district on the Board of Trustees of the Lehigh Carbon Community College.Smith said that his wife taught in the district."I think it's a good school system and I want to be a part of keeping it that way," Smith said.There was one other applicant for the Jim Thorpe board vacancy, Wilmer Redline Jr.