Baldwin-Whitehall School District officials yesterday barred school board member Beverly Coon from district school buildings and school events until the criminal charges against her for trying to kill the Bethel Park school superintendent are resolved.

Ms. Coon still will be allowed to participate in school board meetings in the central administration building, if she chooses, since she is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

School district Solicitor Edward Lawrence said the district has the legal right to prohibit her from going into the schools and from attending all school activities.

"We can bar anyone we want," he said. "She has no greater right to be there than anyone else."

Ms. Coon, who is seeking a second term on the board, still appears on the Nov. 8 ballot for the Baldwin-Whitehall school board race, according to Mark Wolosik, manager of the Allegheny County elections division.

"My voting machine ballots were printed over two weeks ago," Mr. Wolosik said yesterday. "You get to the point where we can't make changes."

Yesterday, Ms. Coon's running mate, incumbent school board member Michael Stelmasczyk, said that he hopes she will "resign from the board and devote herself to her defense for her own good and the good of the community."

Mr. Stelmasczyk, who said he was shocked by the allegations, has spent the last few days using purple tape to cover up Ms. Coon's name on yard signs all over Baldwin Borough, Baldwin Township and Whitehall. Purple is the school district's color.

Now the signs list the names of only Mr. Stelmasczyk and candidate Edward Moeller, who served on the board in 2003.

"I think the stores are running out of the [purple] tape," Mr. Stelmasczyk said yesterday.

Ms. Coon, 46, of Whitehall, is accused of drugging her estranged boyfriend, Bethel Park Superintendent Ronald Grimm, and setting his bed on fire in his Monroeville apartment Sept. 9 in an attempt to kill him.

She was arrested Wednesday and jailed on charges of attempted homicide, arson, risking catastrophe, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and stalking.

She was released from jail Thursday, after $100,000 bond was posted by a bonding agency. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Friday in Monroeville.

District Judge Walter Luniewski ordered her to have no contact with Dr. Grimm and to undergo a mental evaluation at the Allegheny County Behavior Clinic.

Her attorney, Robert Leight of Pietragallo, Bosick & Gordon, said the evidence against her is "circumstantial."

"We are confident that once the jury has heard the evidence, she will be found not guilty."

Ms. Coon, who is separated from her husband, attorney Timothy Coon, could not be reached for comment.

Bethel Park School District spokeswoman Vicki Flotta said Dr. Grimm, who was burned in the fire, has not been cleared by his doctors to return to work.

"We do anticipate his return, but we don't have a timetable," Mrs. Flotta said.