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...!