Bethlehem School Board Director Basilio A. Bonilla Jr. has been removed from three of his appointed positions.

Board President Michael Faccinetto made the announcement indicating the board's decision prior to the start of the Sept. 8 Facilities Committee meeting.

Bonilla, recently appointed as the northeast regional director for the National Hispanic Council of School Board Members and one of a few LGBT elected officials in the Lehigh Valley, sent a letter to the Allentown School District Sept. 4 inquiring about alleged inequalities between Hispanics and Caucasians in the area.

In the letter, Bonilla requested data from the district and meetings with school officials. The letter was claimed to be in response to several concerns received from citizens and organizations in the district.

A few minority administrators in the Allentown School District have resigned in the past year, among them former William Allen HS Principal Shannon Mayfield and both of the past two directors of student and community services, Susan Lozada and Nick Perez.

Jose Rosado, recently suspended from his position as director of alternative education in the district, insists that his punishment was not due to performance issues as the ASD claims, but due to his attempts to diminish unfair practices, such as teachers bullying students on school grounds and violations of student civil rights.

After receiving word of Bonilla's letter, both the National School Boards Association and the Hispanic Council said Bonilla was acting independently and was not representing the opinions of either organization.

Faccinetto issued an apology to the Allentown Board of School Directors for Bonilla's conduct on behalf of the BASD.

"Unfortunately, this is the second time in recent years that the BASD Board of School Directors is compelled to apologize to the Allentown School District and its Board of School Directors for the actions of Mr. Bonilla," Faccinetto wrote in a press release.

"As a result, BASD Board President Michael Faccinetto has taken action to remove Mr. Bonilla from his position as chairperson of the Curriculum Committee, as well as from his position as BASD liaison to the Pa. School Boards Association and as board representative to the Superintendent's Committee on Diversity."

In response to the press release, Bonilla issued a brief statement indicating that he disagrees with the actions taken and that he is seeking legal counsel due to the potential violation of his First Amendment and civil rights, including a lack of due process in the case.

Former School Director Aurea Ortiz was not happy about the decision to remove Bonilla from his appointed positions. She said she is concerned with attempts to gloss over troubling conditions in the ASD, and the manner in which Bonilla was removed, indicating it as a "...way to embarrass one of your board members in public before due process.

"To expose a young man that is trying to fight in a battle that is going on in the Allentown School District as a person, not as a board member, as a person, as his free speech...it's kind of disappointing," Ortiz said.

"There's a lot of injustices in the Allentown School District," she continued, "and I have to say it because it is true. And if we don't say it then who's gonna say it? I mean, it's our children and we are here to fight for children."