The Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School is a career & technical school located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, in the United States. It was officially started in 1965 when the Bethlehem Area School District, Northampton Area School District, and Saucon Valley School District combined forces to form one vocational-technical school for its students to attend.HistoryThe beginning of vocational education in the Bethlehem area began way before 1965, when in 1918 a Vocational Shop Program was started and located on East Fourth Street where the South Side Boy's Club is housed. From 1919 to 1934 a program named the Trade School was housed on Fourth Street at the Excelsior Building.There was also a Vocational Industrial Department located in Liberty High School from 1922 to 1934. In 1934 that same school housed seventh to twelfth grades; consequently, the Industrial Department was moved to Broughal and Excelsior. Between the years of 1934-1940 academic grades from ninth to twelfth were housed at Broughal along with drafting, cabinetmaking, pattern and printing shops while carpentry, electrical, electronics and machining were housed at the Excelsior.Bethlehem Technical High School was located at the Quinn Building for ninth to twelfth grades. It had 18 classrooms and 10 shops. The school even had its own graduation. In January 1956, vocational education was housed in the new annex building of Liberty High School, as a department. From 1956 to 1964 vocational education came under the supervision of the Liberty High School principal. Finally in 1965 it was finally called the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School. It did not have its own building until 1970 when the new BAVTS school was built adjacent to Freedom High School for $3,000,000 in Bethlehem Township.
