BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Bethlehem Area School District plans to appoint Maureen Leeson to replace incoming Bethlehem Area Schools Superintendent Jack Silva as assistant superintendent and chief academic officer.
The school board is expected to vote on her hire at its June 26th meeting. A district graduate, Leeson has 16 years of experience in education and has served as a Freedom High School assistant principal and a teacher at Liberty High School.
- The Bethlehem Area School District plans to appoint Maureen Leeson to assistant superintendent and chief academic officer
- Leeson is currently in charge of K-12 STEM curriculum, and has been an assistant principal and a teacher in the district
- Bethlehem NAACP President Esther Lee said the new assistant superintendent should be African American
Her current role is as the district’s supervisor of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for kindergarten through 12th grade. Before that, she served as an administrator for secondary education.
She earned her doctorate in educational leadership from Lehigh University and has dual master’s degrees in education from Wilkes University.
“I am excited to have Dr. Leeson join our senior leadership team," Silva said in a statement. "She is a talented and collaborative leader in the Bethlehem Area School District community."
“So my irritation today is we have waited so long here in Bethlehem for an African American in a high-level post.”Bethlehem NAACP Esther Lee
Esther Lee, president of the NAACP Bethlehem chapter, said she was disappointed that another district leader, Benita Draper, was not hired for this position. Draper is currently the director of equity initiatives. Previously, she was also the principal of Lincoln Elementary School. Lee said she believes it’s because Draper is Black that she was not hired for the position.
“She’s been there 15 years in the district. She didn’t just get there,” Lee said. “So my irritation today is we have waited so long here in Bethlehem for an African American in a high-level post.”
A message left for Draper received no response.
“I believe we should be attracting, reaching and trying to expand equity initiatives and equity results in our school district."Incoming BASD Superintendent Jack Silva
Silva said his choice of Leeson was not about race. In fact, he said he offered to create an assistant superintendent role for Draper inside his leadership team related to her current work, but did not want to comment further on personnel matters.
“I believe we should be attracting, reaching and trying to expand equity initiatives and equity results in our school district,” he said.
Retiring Bethlehem Schools Superintendent Joe Roy created the Office of Equity last year. He leaves next month. Silva has said he wants to continue the initiatives he helped Roy develop during his 13 years as assistant superintendent.
