UPPER SAUCON TWP., Pa. — Southern Lehigh School Board's decision Monday to approve the appointment of Karen Trinkle as superintendent came after a heated meeting in which some school directors and community members questioned the transparency of the hiring process.
School directors voted 5-2 to promote Trinkle, 47, from the district's assistant superintendent role to chief of schools. She was granted a five-year contract with a $190,000 annual starting salary.
Kimberly Jaramillo, a district parent and school board candidate, said Trinkle is respected by district staff.
“She deserves to enter this role with the full confidence of this community,” she said.
“But because the [board] majority chooses secrecy, rushed decisions and shady processes, they’ve cast a shadow over her appointment that never needed to exist.”
Critics of the hiring process argued that district and board leadership did not make the proposed contract available early enough.
They also argued a superintendent search should have been conducted instead of a direct appointment.
The board majority said contract information was shared in a timely manner and that Trinkle’s apparent leadership made a superintendent search an unnecessary and costly option.
School board President Stephen Maund, along with directors Nicole King, Mary Joy Reinartz, Melissa Torba and Christopher Wayock voted to approve Trinkle’s contract.
Board Vice President Candi Kruse and Director Emily Gehman voted against it.
Directors Eric Boyer and Timothy Kearney were absent.
Recent challenges test Southern Lehigh
Trinkle has served as Southern Lehigh’s substitute superintendent since March after former schools chief Michael Mahon, 57, was put on administrative leave, then agreed to resign last month.
The district’s Human Resources Director Ethan Ake-Little, 39, had filed complaints of discrimination, retaliation and fraud against Mahon, who publicly pushed back against the claims, saying his leadership had been mischaracterized.
School directors Monday approved a $215,000 settlement agreement with Ake-Little, who also resigned effective Aug. 31.
Superintendent Trinkle acknowledged the district’s tumultuous six months in her statement after being appointed to her new role.
“Southern Lehigh has faced challenges that have tested us as a community, and yet, what has been accomplished together is nothing short of remarkable,” she said.
“In every classroom, in every activity, in every connection, I see strength, resilience and heart, and that’s what makes us special.”
Transparency concerns
Before voting on Trinkle’s appointment, board President Maund and Director Gehman argued about when information about the proposed contract and the hiring plans were made available to the full board.
Maund said Trinkle’s appointment was discussed in an executive session this month, and Gehman, who was absent from the meeting, questioned why she did not receive updates from board leadership.
Maund and other school directors said it's the responsibility of those who are absent to follow up.
Gehman also said the proposed contract wasn’t shared in full with her and other directors until Friday, though key points of the agreement were shared a few days earlier, she said.
“The board had the information to understand the vote, to understand the offer,” Maund said.
Gehman and some residents also took issue with the agenda and attached contract document not being publicly posted until Sunday evening.
It has been the practice for years, they said, for agendas to be posted on the Friday ahead of a meeting.
“It looks like somebody went out of their way to make sure the public had less notice about what was going on," Nicole Dolan, a district parent, said during public comment.
The state Sunshine Act only requires agendas to be posted 24 hours in advance of a meeting.
Trinkle said she made the decision to post the agenda on Sunday instead of Friday. She did not give a reason for the change.
Calls for a superintendent search
Gehman and board Vice President Kruse were the only school directors to vote against Trinkle’s contract.
Both said they would have preferred opening up a superintendent search.
They said they took issue with the decision to have a direct appointment, rather than with Trinkle's leadership ability.
"I just think that we're shortchanging our community's ability to participate by making this appointment."Candi Kruse, Southern Lehigh School Board Vice President
"I just think that we're shortchanging our community's ability to participate by making this appointment," Kruse said.
Gehman said she received messages from community members asking the board to delay the vote on Trinkle’s contract.
But other school directors disagreed with Kruse and Gehman.
Board President Maund said it was important “that we move with some speed” to appoint a superintendent, given the “strife and dismay” of the past six months of controversy in the district.
He also said a superintendent search would have been “long and drawn out,” involving consultants, recruiters and lengthy interviews.
In response, Gehman said, “I don’t think that we [as a board] should avoid…a search simply because it is arduous. I think we should welcome that challenge as leaders in our community.”
Charu Chaturvedi, a district parent, also called for an open candidate vetting process to earn the trust of the community.
During her public comment, she said Trinkle is "present and committed," but still questioned her appointment and salary.
Chaturvedi said the board was "elevating someone with less experience than her predecessor" while paying her a higher starting salary than the previous chief of schools.
When former Superintendent Mahon became Southern Lehigh’s chief of schools in August 2021, he started with an annual salary of $180,000.
That was after 15 years of experience as the superintendent at Abington Heights School District in Lackawanna County.
As of the 2024-25 school year, Mahon’s annual salary was $194,781, according to state data.
Contract concerns, praise for Trinkle’s leadership
Gehman also took issue with elements of Trinkle’s contract, calling the salary “generous” for leading a small district of about 3,000 students.
She also said certain retiree health care benefits in Trinkle’s contract were not “similar enough to the retiree health care [benefits] offered to Act 93 administrators, or other non-union staff, to pass IRS nondiscrimination testing for highly compensated individuals.”
“I find it sad that we can’t come together as a board of nine and realize that we’d be absolute morons not to bring [Dr. Trinkle] on board to this school district."Nicole King, Southern Lehigh School Director
Additionally, Gehman expressed concerns about language in the contract that she believed could impact Trinkle’s due process rights if she were ever investigated.
She also said the superintendent evaluation process did not have “measurable” goals.
Other school directors focused their comments not on the contract, but on Trinkle’s leadership performance thus far.
“I find it sad that we can’t come together as a board of nine and realize that we’d be absolute morons not to bring [Dr. Trinkle] on board to this school district,” King said.
Maund said Trinkle thinks “strategically” and sets tactical goals for district initiatives, such as the upcoming full-day kindergarten plans.
“I think she’s undergone a rigorous process, and I think she’s done a phenomenal job,” Wayock said.
Torba said Trinkle is a "strong, capable” leader.
“She has showcased her ability to lead with resilience in the face of constant change, and it’s enabled her to navigate this dynamic landscape within Southern Lehigh,” she said.
In Monday’s meeting and past meetings, residents have raised concerns that Torba is personal friends with Trinkle.
In response, Torba had asked the district solicitor if she would need to recuse herself from the superintendent contract vote.
He said a conflict of interest would only be presented by familial or financial ties. Thus, Torba voted in favor of the contract.
When asked after the meeting if she is personal friends with the superintendent, Torba said: “I’m professional, and this is a professional position.”
Tension over Act 93 decision
Shortly after her appointment, Trinkle had a heated exchange with Director Gehman about a human resources item on the agenda.
Gehman raised concerns about a revised 2025-29 compensation plan for ACT 93 administrators.
Act 93 provides administrators, such as principals, with discussion opportunities to negotiate their salaries and benefits with their districts as a group.
The updated plan was on the agenda because a position was added after an evaluation process by Trinkle and the district’s business manager.
Gehman questioned whether the position should have been added at all, but most vocally raised concerns about whether all ACT 93 members were notified and agreed to the change, which she said is legally required.
The district’s attorney said the change did not rise to the level of an amendment to the plan.
Still, Gehman questioned how and if the superintendent informed all ACT 93 members. She said the ACT 93 group does not have designated leaders, as unions do.
Trinkle gave brief answers to Gehman’s questions, saying she “communicated” with staff.
When asked to be more specific, Trinkle said: “What method of communication would you like me to say?”
Gehman said she pressed the issue because of concerns it was similar to scenarios that allegedly played out when former Superintendent Mahon recently was accused of fraud.
“This is how the fraud claim was made,” she said.
In response to her line of questioning, Director Wayock told Gehman she was “absolutely out of line.”
“I’m not,” Gehman said.
