The BASD Facilities Committee met on Feb. 5, and although the temperature outside was below freezing, summer plans were a major talking point for the committee. The district has over $2.3 million worth of summer projects planned for summer 2018, all of which were sent out to bid recently.

The first $1.1 million in bids were returned and accepted, with the district coming in sixty-six thousand dollars under the estimated costs. These projects include finishing the interior floors at East Hills, which was unable to be completed prior to the start of the 2017-18 school year, as well as paving the parking lot adjacent to East Hills MS and Freedom HS. The BASD Education Center is renewing a roof warranty for another 10 years, while Freedom receives a much needed hot water heater upgrade.

The final bid accepted was for the Project Lead the Way renovation at Freedom. Under this new initiative, the Freedom woodshop, mostly unchanged since 1969, will be reimagined as a hybrid wood shop and computer lab. Students will be tasked with using computers and technology to design and innovate projects, and then will put their designs to life by creating, fabricating and testing their ideas. The project was proposed for summer 2017, but required additional design and engineering work to make sure the project could be designed to meet the space and budget requirements set forth by the board. Each of these bids will be put to vote at the Feb. 26 board meeting.

The final $1.1 million in summer projects, a renovation of the Bethlehem Football stadium, was placed out to bid in February as well. Due to the complexities of the project, the district expects to have those bids finalized for the March committee meeting, and ready for vote at the March board meeting. The renovation will focus on repainting, which may require mitigation of paint-based contaminants such as lead, as well as updating the railings to meet modern safety requirements.

Past discussions about the project have shown that the board members have vastly different views on the scope and need for the project. Talking points have included the overall costs, and how that money could be diverted to dozens of educational initiatives, rather than sports. Additional talking points focus on items such as elevator safety, or getting the vo-tech students involved in the project to reduce cost.

The meeting ended with two items brought up in the Open Forum. First, members of BASDProud have encouraged the District to draft a formal resolution against Pa. Senate Bill 2. The bill will essentially act as a form of tuition vouchering, and could have a detrimental impact to public schools across the state. Superintendent Dr. Joe Roy and other board members agreed, and suggested that a note be added to the Human Resources meeting later this month, to draft and vote on a formal resolution.

Roy also shared with the audience an item that the Board has been anticipating for months. The Pennsylvania auditor general issued a press release, that based upon the investigation and materials provided by the BASD, they would be auditing the Lehigh Valley Charter HS for the Arts. Roy reminded the audience that renewal of the charter schools contract with the district has been placed on hold, in hopes that the audit would be conducted prior to the May deadline for approval. Dr. Roy indicated that the auditor general anticipates a result before that deadline, but gave no hint as to what action the district will take, dependent upon the results.