It has just been announced that School Superintendent Dr. Joseph Lewis would like to sell Nitschmann Middle School to a developer and build a new Nitschmann out in Hanover Township. There the district owns some land next to the Hanover Elementary School. (I should say "inexplicably" owns some extra land out there, because what is the Bethlehem Area School District? A real estate development outfit?)
The announcement about Nitschmann cannot come at a better time for Superintendent Lewis. No doubt he wishes to defuse the unexpectedly fierce opposition he has encountered to the district's plan to tear down the historic Broughal Middle School on the South Side.
But many of us are just as opposed to destroying the character of a whole Bethlehem neighborhood by destroying one of its highlights.
Nitschmann is situated at the corner of Eighth Ave. and W. Union Blvd. in Bethlehem's handsome,homey West Side. For decades this has been a neighborhood where kids can walk to school. Thousands have.
Across from the school is another neighborhood highlight,the City of Bethlehem's handsome Rose Garden. Here there are hundreds of roses in season, and green grass, and military monuments honoring city residents who served in America's wars. Here many public events have taken place over the years, too.
Like the school, the garden is not on the tax rolls. This fact raises deep unease, especially considering that one of Superintendent Lewis's arguments is that old Nitschmann could be sold for 7.2 million dollars, developed, and then placed on the tax rolls. Since the City of Bethlehem is frequently described as "cash-strapped," sooner or later it will enter the dreams of some official: Wouldn't it be nice if BOTH the school area and the garden were on the tax rolls?
Needless to say, that person needs to be stopped at once. And
Dr. Lewis's Nitschmann scheme needs to be stopped.
Citizens should begin by considering the role of Hanover Township in all this, I believe. Does it even WANT the proposed new Nitschmann, with its threat of an inpouring of "inner city" types? Or would it rather have the land the Bethlehem Area School District is now holding sold, developed, and on its own tax rolls?
One thing seems certain: Increasingly, the School Board seems to be becoming a threat to the quality of life in Bethlehem and the entire school district. And citizens who care now have a two-war front to fight.
We can all help the situation by voting in the upcoming primary, and not skipping the school board row. Follow the school situation in local papers and blogs, on radio and television, and by coming to meetings. Make up your mind who deserves your support (who is supporting you, your children, and your community), then vote accordingly.
A final note: A friend suggested that the public would quickly come to a realization of the way things are with the School Board if its meetings were webcast. OH, yeah...!

Here are several individuals whose remarks on the Broughal School situation deserve further attention:
1. Dr. Joseph Lewis,Superintendent of Schools, who at the recent meeting at the Forte building suggested he was not really responsible for the decision to demolish Broughal. That could be laid at the feet of his employers, the nine-member school board.
Come on, Dr. Lewis, who will believe THAT? Superintendents of schools are supposed to be experts hired by boards to advise them in running school systems, their facilities and programs. It's not that board members are unconcerned; school management and school law are simply not their specialty.
Doesn't it follow that most of the actions taken by a board will represent the views and recommendations of the superintendent? And wouldn't this be especially true in large questions, like the fate of a school building? So, one really has to wonder why the superintendent wants this building destroyed so much--since that seems to be what is really going on here.
2.Then there are the comments of Jose Rosado, an administrator in the employ of the Bethlehem Area School District. Mr. Rosado wants the building razed to the ground. Should he be so publicly declaring his views, or is that conflict of interest? What's more, Mr. Rosado seems to be implying that the students of Broughal are being treated as inferior beings because they go to an old school building.
That is nonsense; dangerous nonsense, at that. It seems like an effort to play the "social class" card, and create feelings of rejection and alienation in students and parents alike. It does a grave disservice both to the children and to their families, because it encourages them to believe others are convinced of their inferiority. The results for their self-respect can be devastating.
3.Finally, there is the inevitable Richard Guarino, advocate of Broughal's destruction. Mr. Guarino was last heard from advocating the destruction of our great blast furnaces.
What is there to say?

There will be an important Bethlehem Area School Board meeting--I believe it is once again of the facilities committee--on Monday, February 5, at 6:30 pm at the school district offices, 1516 Sycamore St.
The meeting is important for two reasons. First, citizen leaders seem prepared to present a reasonable, last-chance plan for saving Broughal Middle School. Second, even if you think you are not interested in that, and in the millions of dollars it could save the taxpayers, you might want to observe the behavior of the school directors.
I have no idea what that behavior will be.
Will the board be on time? Or will they keep the citizenry waiting for three quarters of an hour, as they did a few weeks ago? Will they allow those who have come to see them in action (and who, after all, are the real owners of the facilities in question) the chance to speak? Or will they throttle discussion, restricting it to a begrudged few minutes?
Will they cut off those citizens who do get a chance to say a few words, and even come perilously close to accusing them of lying?
Will they be unconscionably rude to their more moderate colleagues? Will they pretend they have never heard of "Roberts' Rules of Order"? (Maybe some of them haven't!)
Will they, in fact, make the whole meeting one more dysfunctional power play?
I don't know, because this meeting hasn't happened yet. All I can say is, this is what I've seen before.
If this is what YOU see, mark down the most egregious offenders and let's vote against them in this year's primary and general elections.