ALLENTOWN, Pa. — State Sen. Nick Miller presented the Allentown School District with a $500,000 state grant Friday to start a multi-phase expansion of J. Birney Crum Stadium, money he first announced in July.
Miller, a Democrat from the 14th District, handed over the check at the William Allen High School football game against Emmaus, his office said. He was joined by Superintendent Carol Birks and state Reps. Peter Schweyer, Mike Schlossberg and Ana Tiburcio.
The grant is a start, not the full cost. Robert Whartenby, the district’s chief operations officer, told the school board Aug. 27 that the $500,000 will help pay for updates to the stadium’s field house and that the district is also working on a larger master plan for the property. Miller’s office has not said what the full project will cost or when work will start.
Miller’s office describes a broader project: a field house, new restrooms and concessions, two scoreboards, site work and demolition of existing buildings.
The two scoreboards drew questions from commenters on Miller’s video. A June 2025 district board memo describes “the new video scoreboard at J. Birney Crum Stadium.” Miller replied that the grant is “definitely not replacing the new scoreboard” and that the district is “working on the game plan/timing” for the money. His office has not said which scoreboards the grant covers.
Miller also said he would pass commenters’ concerns about the stadium’s steps and bleachers to the district.
The district has put numbers on stadium work before. At a board committee meeting last October, its presentation listed a $7.5 million field house, with locker rooms, public restrooms and a weight room, plus $1.5 million to replace the turf and track. Whartenby put the stadium work at almost $10 million and 35 months, then said: “These aren’t projects yet. These are ideas.”
The grant comes from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, which Miller announced July 16 as part of more than $5.7 million in awards for Lehigh Valley projects. A district board memo says the state authorized the award July 17, that it passes through Lehigh County and that it reimburses the district for eligible project costs.
The presentation came the day after William Allen received its third bomb threat in three days. Allentown police said officers cleared the school Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and found no threat each time. A 16-year-old was charged over Tuesday’s, and a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old face charges over Wednesday’s, each with felony terroristic threats.
Police news releases show 10 bomb threats at district schools since Sept. 1, 2025: eight at William Allen and two at Trexler Middle School. Four came this school year, all at William Allen. None turned up a bomb.
Last October, as the school board took up a new terroristic-threats policy, a board member said William Allen’s 3,000 students had to go “down to the stadium” three times during that fall’s threats.
At the school board’s Thursday meeting, Birks said: “We will not tolerate students or anyone making threats and putting our collective learning community at risk.” She said District Attorney Gavin Holihan told a news conference earlier that day that he will prosecute anyone who makes a threat against an Allentown school and pursue their families for the cost.
