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.