First Latino May be Appointed to College Trustees

The Bethlehem Area School Board is set to appoint a Latino to the Board of Trustees for the first time in the college’s history.

Board President Michael Faccinetto is nominating Jose Rosado, a veteran educator and the mayor of Fountain Hill, to join the college trustees. The board will vote on that nomination at its regular monthly meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at .

Bethlehem Area has four representatives on the college’s board with two of its seats set to expire at the end of June. Those seats are currently occupied by former school board members Loretta Leeson and Rosario Amato.

Faccinetto is nominating Leeson to remain with the board and Rosado to fill the other seat. The board president said at the board’s most recent Human Resources Committee meeting that he was willing to give up his own interest in becoming a college trustee to allow Leeson to continue her work with the board.

The Latino community began to pressure Faccinetto and the board to appoint a minority member to the college trustees since discussion about the open seats began in March.

A group of Northampton students showed up at the Human Resources Committee meeting to urge the board to appoint a minority to the board to represent the interest of the 32 percent of college students who are minorities.

In March, Faccinetto had suggested that Leeson be reappointed and he take the other seat, but he also threw open the nominating process to allow others to be considered.

Several minority candidates then emerged, including new board members Basilio Bonilla and Sudantha Vidanage, along with veteran educators Donnell Bowie and Rosado.

Rosado is a former assistant principal in the and is currently the director of community and student services in the Allentown School District.