ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A disagreement between Midway Manor residents and Allentown School District officials is set to rumble on after a tense board meeting last week.
Dozens of community members showed up at a meeting Thursday to support several neighbors who spoke out against the board’s plans to expand Sonia Sotomayor Dual Immersion Academy by adding 10 modular classrooms.
The addition of those classrooms, as initially planned, would’ve required demolishing Midway Manor Community Association’s concession stand.
“When you take that away from a community, you make residents not want to be here.”Marc Stewart, former athletic director for Midway Manor
It was built on the land in the 1980s by Midway Manor Community Association, more than two decades after its formation.
Sitting dead-center on the school district’s Midway Manor property, the stand and its sales fund youth soccer leagues and a slew of events in the community, according to residents.
Marc Stewart, former athletic director for Midway Manor, urged the board to recognize the value of Midway Manor’s sports and community programs and find a way to preserve the “snack shed.”
“When you take that away from a community, you make residents not want to be here,” Stewart said.
Several others — including two students with emotional pleas — asked officials to preserve the snack shed.
Julie Velasquez, who has two sons in the Sonia Sotomayor school, urged everyone in the room to view the pending expansion plans as “an incredible opportunity to transform into something greater.”
“It is not an opportunity to erase traditions; it's an opportunity to share them,” Velasquez said.
Soon after the meeting’s public-comment period ended, school district officials revealed the expansion plans were revised to preserve the Midway Manor concession stand.
The board approved plans to spend up to $1.6 million on the modular classrooms.
The proposal now heads to Allentown Planning Commission, which is scheduled to review it at its March 10 meeting.
Residents ‘weaponized’ the press: President
Midway Manor Community Association’s future use of the property remains unclear.
School Director Evette D’Amore, who also is Midway Manor’s athletic director, said the association made a “handshake agreement” to use the land almost 70 years ago.
“I know you guys care about the children, and I know you guys want the school to flourish. However, when you handle it in that manner, it seems as if you really don't care.”Andrene Brown Nowell, school board president
But a lack of documentation for that agreement caused alarm among some administrators and board President Andrene Brown Nowell because of liability concerns.
The association now could be required to follow the district’s procedure for using its properties, which could bring new fees.
And Nowell criticized many residents in the room for “weaponizing” the media against plans to expand the school board’s plans to expand the Sonia Sotomayor school.
She said she learned about residents’ “feelings through an article online” and called it “disturbing” that some feel they don’t have to follow the district’s policies.
“As a community leader, I am disappointed with the way we are handling this,” she said.
“I know you guys care about the children, and I know you guys want the school to flourish. However, when you handle it in that manner, it seems as if you really don't care.”
