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.

Through a partnership with Da Vinci Science Center, Allentown students from Central Elementary School will regularly visit the museum's new Hamilton Street location to learn about manufacturing, artificial intelligence, the human body and the environment.

Barbara Clymer, communications coordinator for the Bethlehem Area School District, is a finalist for the inaugural National School Communicator of the Year Award.

The Young Playwrights' Festival features scripts written by 13 elementary and middle school students from Bethlehem. The show will take place on Sunday at Northeast Middle School.

Palmer Township police Officer John Smoke, the school resource officer at Easton Area High School, waived his preliminary hearing in Palmer Township on Friday.

Students from Broughal Middle School popped their way to the top at the sixth annual "What's So Cool About Manufacturing" (WSCM) contest Wednesday in Harrisburg.

The Saucon Valley School Board is set to make a decision “in the coming weeks” on whether or not to keep a school resource officer on campus, according to Lower Saucon Police Chief Thomas Barndt.

Costas Alestas, a former Bethlehem police officer and soccer coach at East Hills Middle School, intends to plead not guilty to multiple sex-related crimes involving two middle school students, his attorney said.

Parkland School Board approved a preliminary budget Tuesday that would take the millage rate from 16.30 mills to 17.12 mills — an increase of 5%. A final vote on the budget is pending.

In the midst of budget season, Easton Area School District is examining figures to trim a tax increase and bridge a multimillion dollar gap between revenue and expenditures.

The Bethlehem Area School Board passed a preliminary 2024-25 budget at a Monday special meeting. The district plans to increase taxes and pull from a surplus fund to balance the budget. The final budget will be adopted in June.

Parkland School District is likely taking on two expansion projects at Parkland High School and Orefield Middle School. More details are now coming to light about what they will look like — and how much they will cost.

Forty international students from around the globe are finishing up their school year spent in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding area soon, then will head back home to their families. International Host Family Week celebrates exchange student programs.