K-12 News

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.

Pennsylvania State Police said the victim was hit by a tractor-trailer along Interstate 380 in Tobyhanna Township, Monroe County. Sean Richmond, 38, was a 2004 Easton High grad and current coach and athletic director at Stroudsburg.

Nearly 45 Allentown students have participated in a new mentorship program at Lehigh Parkway Elementary School this year. The program pairs fifth-grade leaders with younger students to help them reach academic and behavioral goals.

Allentown high school students will learn about data analytics and artificial intelligence during an eight-week summer program with DeSales University in which they earn a stipend and college credits.

GOP statehouse heads nix special session on statewide school mask requirement

Keeping students safe and healthy is a challenge as they return to in-person learning amid delta variant threat

Gov. Tom Wolf is asking Pennsylvania's legislature to quickly approve a new statewide mask mandate for schools because his administration is worried that students returning to schools are going back to an unsafe environment.

The Bethlehem Area School District has added a new position to address the social and emotional needs of students and staff. The move comes as schools bring kids back to full-time in-person learning this fall.

Lawmakers joined the governor in Harrisburg on June 30 to highlight something education advocates have been calling for for a while: a boost in funding for some of the commonwealth’s poorest school districts.

In districts across the Lehigh Valley, teachers are using the next two months to help kids catch up on learning lost to the pandemic.

A new report is warning that “job-related stress” could affect the supply of teachers across the country. The report began with a survey of public school teachers nationwide last winter.

The region’s Catholic schools saw increased demand during COVID-19. Half the schools even had waiting lists.

Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math are key subjects in education and workforce development. They’re often combined into the acronym STEAM. But disparities exist when it comes to accessing programs in these fields.

Allentown families dusted off their backpacks and lunch boxes as elementary students returned to in-person learning on April 19. They’ve been virtual for more than a year.

As of April 13, elementary students in the Bethlehem Area School District are back in class four days a week more than a year after the pandemic began.

Now that Congress has passed the new COVID relief plan, state and local governments are learning whether they can use the money for roads and county health bureaus.