Bethlehem board’s appointment
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Bethlehem board′s appointment clarifies need for
minority-majority voting district
March 27, 2008
Hispanics account for 32.3 percent of the Bethlehem
Area School District’s student body. But, all nine
members of the school board are Anglos, and the board
will remain that way at least until the next election in
2009, following the board′s decision Tuesday to appoint
Republican Benjamin Tenaglia III to an open seat.
Two years ago, the board also had the opportunity to
appoint a Hispanic to fill a board vacancy and one Latina
who applied was a former district school principal.
Instead, the board appointed former director William
Heske, who had previously been voted off the board. At
the time, director Charlene Koch said she supported Mr.
Heske because he was ”the better candidate.”
After that 2006 decision, the district was the target of a
class-action lawsuit alleging violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and discrimination against
Hispanics. This February, director Joe Craig resigned from the board. The night the board accepted his
resignation, Ms. Koch suggested that Sis-Obed Torres-Cordero — whose wife, Sandra
Figueroa-Cordero, the former Donegan Elementary School principal was passed over in 2006 — replace
him. Instead, the board properly decided to advertise for candidates. Two weeks later, district
administrators revealed they had an agreement to settle the civil rights lawsuit by creating a
Hispanic-majority voting district to foster diversity on the board.
History has a way of repeating itself. Between the board vacancy in 2006 and Mr. Craig’s recent
resignation, the board′s former dissident members have become the majority and Loretta Leeson has
replaced Dr. Craig Haytmanek as board president. But, one thing that hasn’t changed is the acrimony
between the two factions and the related political power struggle.
There are probably enough subplots here to script a season of soap operas, maybe two. Mr.
Torres-Cordero is listed as a plaintiff’s attorney on the lawsuit. District lawyers advised, however, that
this shouldn’t affect the appointment decision because it wouldn’t affect the lawsuit. His wife left the
district in 2000 to become principal of Life Academy in East Allentown. There’s the new majority′s past
criticisms of Superintendent Joe Lewis and the old majority′s support of him. There’s the changing
demographics in the district.
Prior to Tuesday′s vote, Dr. Haytmanek said the new majority would be hypocritical if they didn’t vote
for the Hispanic candidate, which they didn’t. Instead, some of the new majority echoed Ms. Koch’s
2006 rationale of backing the most qualified person — in their view, Mr. Tenaglia. Mr. Torres-Cordero,
executive director of the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, was qualified, too, and there was
enough hypocrisy on both sides. This was about politics and the outcome only underscored the need to
create a Hispanic-majority voting district.
