At the regular Bethlehem Area School District meeting Dec. 16, the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School committee described “The Factory” at 315 Columbia St., where the district has approved the purchase of 1.64 acres from the Factory Land Holding Co. The Factory is a former Bethlehem Steel property built in 1940, sold in 2019 and re-purposed for food and beverage development. Plans to allow eight new programs and changes to the building will provide significant savings to the district, as this project will be half the cost of building a new facility, said Board Director Emily Schenkel. The agreed price is $8 million.

Board directors Winston Alozie and Rayah Levy said they are concerned about ethnic diversity among teaching staffs compared with student ratios, especially on providing role models and black educators.

Liberty Principal Dr. Harrison Bailey has left the BASD to be superintendent of the Wilson School District, creating a void in high-profile black educators. Alozie said representation matters, and Levy cited statistics regarding the inconsistent number of teachers of color in the last 50 years.

Levy said her son never had a teacher of color until he attended Moravian University. She stressed the need for diversity in the classroom.