School News

The event included choral and dance performances by teachers and students.

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.

Athletic competition could soon return to parts of Pennsylvania. WESA’s Sarah Schneider reports that new preliminary guidance was released Wednesday, June 10.

The nation’s highest honor for graduating high school seniors is being named a U.S. Presidential Scholar. Only three students in Pennsylvania earned that honor this year - and two happen to not only live in the Lehigh Valley, they also go to the same school.

Bethlehem Area School District is working on contingency plans for the new school year in September.

For a full list of our reports and resources, visit WLVR.org/health and keep up with the latest news on this situation on our Live Blog.

All schools in the Allentown School District and the Easton Arts Academy are closed today and tomorrow amid concerns around the coronavirus. Multiple sources are reporting the Easton case is related to a student’s travel to New York.

The global coronavirus outbreak is disrupting spring break travel and study abroad classes for local colleges.

Penn State University Lehigh Valley broke ground on a 14.4 million dollar addition to its Center Valley campus yesterday.

Schools in the Lehigh Valley are collecting shoes this month for a local nonprofit called “Kindness is Magic.”

Bethlehem-based Lehigh University has cancelled its study-abroad program in Italy.

With the coronavirus outbreak causing school closures in the state of Washington, educators across the country are preparing for the possibility of having to do the same. The CDC’s director said last week students should prepare to attend virtually.

Local Lehigh Valley colleges are confronting the risk of infection for students studying overseas and traveling for spring break.

The Allentown School district is building a new school along Gordon St. between 12th and 13th Streets to replace two of its elementary buildings.