Extra Precautions at Broughal Pushed Back a Day

Students returning to Broughal Middle School after an unplanned five-day weekend will see extra security measures this morning, Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Joseph J. Roy said.

The district had planned to provide the extra precautions and security on Tuesday, but the winter storm prompted the district to close all of its schools for the day.

That means that there will be no morning pre-school activities, such as band or television production. Students who normally congregate around the front entrance of the building at 7:40 a.m. will immediately be escorted into the school to stay in the gymnasium until classes begin.

Students can also expect to see a greater presence from the Bethlehem Police Department and to hear an address from Principal Edward Docolovich about the events of the past few days.

These precautions are all part of the district’s response to the weekend arrest of James W. Kelley, a technical support specialist who worked at Broughal.

He was charged with making terroristic threats against the school and the Lehigh Valley International Airport on his Facebook page late last week and remains in Northampton County Prison under $75,000 bail.

An alert parent and another alert teacher discovered the postings and informed district officials about them, said Assistant Superintendent Jack Silva. The arrest was made Saturday.

The school was closed Friday for a teachers' in-service day and again on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

The district has also confiscated his key to the building and taken away any password access he had to computer systems.

While there is no suspicion that Kelley had any accomplices, the measures are being taken for precautionary reasons as well as to reassure parents that the building will be safe.

On Monday night, district officials met with about 100 Broughal parents to brief them about the events that led to Kelley’s arrest and to hear their concerns and answer questions.

Mostly, they spent a lot of time reassuring parents that Broughal would be a safe place when school resumes.

“Please trust that we are doing the best we can to keep your kids safe,” Docolovich told them.

District officials got to hear something that they before had not known: that Kelley had been in touch with at least a few Broughal students, either through Facebook or e-mails.

“It’s not something we condone,” Docolovich told parents on Monday.

Tom Washington, the district’s assistant superintendent for human resources, told parents that the district holds workshops for teachers and other employees on the appropriate use of social networking.

E-mails are fine for providing homework assignments, but not much else, though “we can’t control what people are doing outside of our buildings,” Washington said. “We strongly urge teachers not to get into those types of relationships at all.”

Kelley’s home computer has been seized by police and is being examined by investigators, Washington said.

“If something inappropriate is found, I’m sure we will hear about that,” he said.