K-12 News

Some Lehigh Valley school districts are seeing an increase in chronic absenteeism and truancy following the COVID-19 pandemic. And what was already an issue before COVID appears to have reached a level of urgency in some schools.

The Allentown School District made school uniforms optional this year for the first time since 2013.

Schools in the Lehigh Valley are about to start. Here's a roundup of the 17 school district's important dates and things to note.

Bethlehem Area School District teachers hit the streets on the city's South Side to help students feel comfortable transitioning to a new school experience.

A federal court judge is allowing the assistant principal who filed the civil rights lawsuit to amend his complaint. It stemmed from an altercation at a high school football game last fall.

Last year, Bethlehem Area and Allentown school districts were waitlisted to get rebate funding through the Clean School Bus program. Another round of applications for this fiscal year is open until later this month.

The Parkland School District now has two final options for how it will address projected overcrowding in its schools. A decision could come within the next two months.

The school was designated with a state Targeted Support and Improvement designation due to lagging performance by its cohort of economically disadvantaged students. Officials laid out plans to improve the issues present.

The new makerspace at Slatington Elementary School will help students learn STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) skills. It will primarily be used by an after school program called Schools & Homes In Education, or SHINE.

House Education Committee Chair Peter Schweyer said Level Up funding should be released immediately.

The Whitehall-Coplay School Board voted 5-4 to adopt a final 2024-25 budget with a 4.5% tax hike at its May 28 meeting.

University students cleaned out their living quarters as another year of designer clothing, furniture and other useful bargains go up for grabs to benefit community schools.

Miara Mitteff, a Dieruff High School senior, will study integrated business and engineering at Lehigh University in the fall on a full-ride scholarship from the U.S. Army.

It's hard to miss the new mural on Third Street in South Bethlehem. The artists, William Nieves and Jermel Fountain, painted and designed the mural with help from seven fifth-graders from Donegal Elementary School.

The Pennsylvania Cancel Lunch Debt Coalition is offering Nazareth Area School District a donation to cover its 2023-24 school meal debt so families don't have to pay.

Pennsylvania State Police say Jared Gerhard, 30, touched a 17-year-old girl inside a Lower Macungie Township Marshall's Friday while she was shopping with her family.

Northampton Area School Board directors twice failed to fill a vacancy. They have asked Northampton County Court to fill it for them, instead.

Essentially a scholastic scrimmage for environmental science, the annual Envirothon combines classroom learning and outdoor activities to engage students in the environment. The state competition was held Wednesday at Camp Mt. Luther in Mifflinburg.

The Allentown School Board adopted a preliminary budget with no property tax increase for the second year in a row. School directors also approved the names for three new theme-based schools set to open in the fall.

Hundreds of talented high school students from 29 schools across the Lehigh Valley and Warren County, New Jersey, were honored at the Freddy Awards on May 23, 2024.

The Bethlehem-based middle school will operate virtually Thursday as it undergoes air conditioning repairs, the school district said.

Easton Area School District approved a preliminary budget of over $210 million on Tuesday night, despite concerns over several details.