Farrington offers Broughal partnership options

Lehigh University will continue to work with the Bethlehem Area School District to make the new Broughal Middle School “the very best middle school it can be for the students of our community,” Gregory Farrington, Lehigh president, told school board members Monday.
Citing the many existing partnerships between the university, the community, and the school district, Farrington—speaking on behalf of the Lehigh Board of Trustees—offered three options for the school board to consider:
• If the school board decides to build a new Middle School on a different location from the current site, Lehigh will offer to purchase the current site and building for the appraised value of $1.9 million.
• If the school board decides to place the new Middle School on Lehigh’s Mountaintop Campus, the university will donate Building G and its surrounding 10-acre plot just inside the entrance to the campus.
• Regardless of the decision the school board makes, Lehigh would offer to create a joint Bethlehem Area School District-university planning group to develop options to make the new Middle School as creative and strong as it can be.
“The Lehigh University family, our Board of Trustees, and I wish to do all that we can to help create the strongest middle school for the future of the children of our neighbors,” Farrington said. “Our focus should be on the children and what is best for their education and personal development.”
Click here to read the full text of President Farrington’s remarks.