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.

It has been called to my attention that the Bethlehem School Board meeting of February 5 is at 6:30 pm, not at 7 pm as I wrote earlier.
One more thing. If you know a person who is intelligent, vigorous, and dedicated to serving the community in what seems often to be a thankless job, ask that person if he or she would like to run for school board. New blood seems very much needed for this vital organization.
Maybe you yourself are the perfect person. If so, don't hold back. I don't think you'll come to thank me for it--but remember, one four-year term is not forever, but it could be long enough to make a very positive difference.

A special meeting of an organization called Friends Of Broughal School was held Monday, January 22 at the Forte Building in Southside Bethlehem. It took place under the auspices of the Mayor's South Side Task Force.
About 40 people were in attendance, a mix of general community activists, citizens concerned chiefly with this particular issue, and Lehigh University faculty, and students.
Bethlehem School Superintendent Dr. Joseph Lewis also was in attendance. During the course of the evening he listened to a great deal of advice and information that contradicted his administration's recommendations calling for the destruction of Broughal.
Among the speakers at the crisp, well-ordered meeting were citizen activist Stephen Antalics, prominent in the fight to save Broughal; City Councilwoman Jean Belinsky; Michael Kramer of the South Bethlehem Historical Society and co-founder with his wife Amy Senape of Save Our Steel; Michel LeFevre of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; former Bethlehem city official Dana Grubb, and several others.
Architect Christine Ussler, Bethlehem's historic preservation officer, also spoke briefly, and mentioned her work as a consultant in helping to preserve the old Nesquehoning and Summit Hill High Schools in Carbon County. She said those buildings had been in an advanced state of disrepair, and yet had been successfully rehabilitated. She added that in her view, rehabilitating Broughal would be a much easier job--it is a building in use and in good repair.
In his presentation, Michel Lefevre of the PHMC spoke of the concern in Harrisburg about the determination to destroy Broughal. He said Bethlehem is special, one of the best preserved places in the state, historically speaking; and that this preservation policy was a great boon to the economy of the city. The destruction of Broughal, he pointed out, would mean a loss of many millions of dollars in tax money.
Addressing Superintendent Lewis, LeFevre made an impassioned plea to save the old building.
Michael Kramer and Dana Grubb also detailed the financial losses and gains involved to the public, depending on whether or not old Broughal survives. Grubb also explained RFPs, or Requests for Proposals, to his rapt audience.
RFPs are a procedure for the disposal of public property in which the availability of the property is advertised, and firms and individuals are invited to make bids to acquire it.In the case of the school, only bids from bidders who wish to retain the school and maintain its historic appearance would be entertained.
Grubb pointed out that RFPs are a way of determining if there is a market for public property. If there is, it can be sold, to the profit of the public. If there is not, it can be disposed of otherwise.
The process avoids the problem of finding that there had been a market for property that no longer exists, and the public ire that
such a discovery might generate.
At the end of the meeting Superintendent Lewis said he was not the final authority on the matter; he himself was an employee of the nine-member school board. But he suggested that an idea might be brought before the board, urging haste because "the clock is running."
"Yes; but will we be listened to?" asked several of the community activists.
And that, indeed, is the question. Perhaps it will be answered at 7 p.m. on the evening of February 5, when there will be another school board meeting. I think it will once again be a meeting of the facilities committee, but am not sure.
It may be hoped, though, that this time the board does not keep us waiting 45 minutes to an hour, as happened last time.

Last night the Bethlehem Area School Board attempted to put the final touches to the doom of the historic Broughal Middle School on the South Side.
The Administration and the majority of the school directors insist they have exhausted all the possibilities for saving the old building, citing discussions with Lehigh University. In fact, they ignored many creative ideas, both from professional preservationists and from the citizenry. As to the notion that a viable solution to the situation could lie with Lehigh University, that idea is laughable on the face of it.
Yes, Lehigh generates some jobs in the area--even many jobs.
But the university is one of those non-profits that seems to me to keep on taking from the community around it. It does nothing to make its neighborhood any better; and its housing needs and policies have done a lot to destroy the housing stock. If it were interested in acquiring the Broughal building right now, my guess is that it would only destroy it.
Yet it is bound to want the land on which the building stands. Perhaps it is calculating on letting the building be destroyed by the School Board, and later on picking up the empty field for a virtual song. Who can be sure?
I repeat: It seems to me that the School Board has gone to considerable lengths to make excuses to destroy the building. I cannot figure out why. I have heard that the test scores of Broughal students are high--in fact, that they are the best in the city. If this is true, shouldn't it be a matter for pride? For real self-esteem? Shouldn't it be convincing proof that you do not need to go to a new crackerbox of a building with all the bells and whistles in order to get a good education?
Yet someone has sold Broughal parents a bill of goods: That it is demeaning to their children to have to go to a school that has been an important part of its community for 92 years, and that is architecturally fine enough to qualify for the National Register of Historic Places.
It is, in fact, a great opportunity to go to such a school. And it would be a crime to destroy it.
I would suggest calling a community meeting of Broughal parents--and where better than at Broughal? The meeting could explain to these parents what is special about the building, and what is special about its tradition. Above all, it could explain why it is an honor to go there, and how its heritage can be enriched and continued, for the benefit of the whole South Side community.