K-12 News

Allentown School District held a kickoff event Thursday at South Mountain to tell students and families about the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program that gives each student an iPad for the school year.

The Lincoln Leadership Academy Charter School in Allentown held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its $16.8 million school for fourth-to-eighth graders on Friday morning.

Commonwealth Charter Academy, a large, public, cyber charter school for all school-age children, plans to convert a nearly 47,000-square-foot, one-story building into office space for teachers and staff at 2200 W. Broad St.

Critics of the hiring process argued for a superintendent search instead of a direct appointment. Others said Karen Trinkle had more than proven herself ready to lead, and a search would be lengthy and costly.

Planned to open to students for the 2027-28 school year, the roughly $59 million project will go up on the same land as its predecessor facility, which dated back to the 1930s.

School directors voted 5-2 to approve Ethan Ake-Little’s resignation and settlement agreement. His resignation takes effect Aug. 31.

Southern Lehigh school directors appointed Karen Trinkle as chief of schools. They also approved a settlement agreement with Ethan Ake-Little, the HR director who filed discrimination and retaliation complaints against the former superintendent.

Ethan Ake-Little has been suspended with pay since June while the district investigated allegations about his job performance. Ake-Little previously filed discrimination, retaliation and fraud complaints against the former superintendent.

Additional cleaning and air quality testing remain underway at Sheridan and Ritter elementary schools, Allentown School District said in an update Sunday.

School directors are scheduled to vote Monday on whether to promote Assistant Superintendent Karen Trinkle to chief of schools. The proposed five-year contract comes a month after school directors voted to part ways with the previous superintendent.

An educator from Trexler Middle School took home Allentown School District's Teacher of the Year award Monday. This is the second time the ASD has held the contest.

Students were all smiles as they feasted on pizza and hot dogs — and picked up free school supplies — at the Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley on East Fourth Street in Bethlehem. It was the second year for the community event.

Jason Moorehead claimed the Allentown School District violated his constitutional rights and protections under a union contract when it suspended him over his attendance at the Jan. 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" rally and ultimately fired him when he refused to return to work.

The follow-up mural, a collaboration with airport authority and ArtsQuest, is in a tunnel leading into the airport and designed by local students and muralist Matt Halm.

Two elementary schools and one middle school in the Bethlehem Area School District distributed free backpacks to incoming students on Friday.

New Nazareth Superintendent Isabel Resende will receive a prorated $205,000 salary for the 2024-2025 school year. She has worked for the district for 16 years.

The Nazareth Area School Board voted to promote Assistant Superintendent Isabel Resende to the district's top spot Tuesday evening. Resende will take over after the district approved a separation agreement with Superintendent Richard Kaskey Tuesday.

East Penn administrators heard a presentation on curriculum changes proposed to the district's Math and English programs, with the hopes they can remap to updated standards and meet learning acquisition and scoring challenges post-COVID.

Anthony Pidgeon, the former Allentown School District director of human resources, testified Jason Moorehead couldn't return to the classroom after posting distasteful political memes on social media following the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol Building.

Allentown School District's OneAllentown Back-to-School Bash was designed to show parents the caring nature of those who will prepare their children for their future.

The district is introducing new set of district policies governing the use and expectations regarding generative artificial intelligence, giving them a basis to train students and staff.

The Fountain Hill Planning Commission voted Monday to recommend approving plans for a new Fountain Hill Elementary School.