School News

Allentown students took part in STEM activities, including stepping into an airplane cockpit, when Captain Barrington Irving flew into town with some hands-on critical thinking activities from his Flying Classroom.

School directors voted 5-4 Tuesday to part ways with now former Superintendent Michael Mahon, who was on administrative leave for the last five months.

The Southern Lehigh School Board will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the boardroom of Southern Lehigh High School to vote on both a separation agreement and mutual general release agreement between the district and Superintendent Michael Mahon.

Allentown school directors approved the $1.14 million partnership Thursday. The agreement runs from next month to June 30, 2028.

Alicia Knauff will start as the new acting head principal of Allen on Monday. She was hired as the principal of the school's Ninth Grade Academy before being tapped shortly after for the acting head role.

Superintendent Carol Birks said she doesn't have to talk about where she lives. School directors defended Birks from social media posts questioning her residency.

The Lehigh Valley’s James Lawson Freedom School is a six-week summer program that uses a multicultural literacy curriculum and an intergenerational teaching model.

Alicia Knauff is poised to take over as the acting head principal of the high school just months after she was hired as the first principal of Allen’s Ninth Grade Academy.

The district will keep the building and surrounding property with the intention of reopening the school at a later date that has not yet been determined.

Lehigh has been hosting SSP’s International’s Summer Science Program this summer. During the five-week course, students get hands-on experience completing college-level research while getting a feel for campus life.

Last year, the state lost more than 450,000 jobs, and 2 million Pennsylvanians applied for unemployment. Gov. Tom Wolf’s new “Near Completers” program will help those who have seen their career training sidelined by the pandemic.

It’s been a year since Allentown schools were open. When the pandemic hit, the Allentown School District sent more than 17,000 students home to grapple with learning virtually.

The Allentown School District will face a nearly $55 million budget deficit by 2025 unless it makes major changes, or unless the Commonwealth changes the way it funds schools.

The William Allen High School boys basketball team is undefeated so far this season thanks to the team led by Head Coach Darnell Braswell, the first Black coach in the team’s history.

Lehigh University has revoked an honorary degree that President Trump held for more than 30 years. The school's board of trustees held a special vote this week after Trump incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

All Bethlehem and Northampton Area School schools are going fully remote this Monday and won’t return to in-person learning until at least January 11th.

The Easton Area School District is looking to build its own cyber academy. District staff say the current program isn’t working for many families. And as WLVR’s Tyler Pratt reports, it appears to have cost the district millions of dollars.

Current state guidelines say schools should move to 100% virtual instruction in counties with “substantial transmission” rates. But many Lehigh Valley schools remain open, despite meeting that standard.

Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education is drawing up plans to bring six of the universities in its orbit under two umbrellas.

State officials say they are concerned about student cyber safety. With so many Pennsylvania students attending classes virtually now, reports of online harassment and threats of violence are rising.

The pandemic and its impact on the economy has changed some families financial situations and affected their ability to pay college tuition. According to a survey nearly 40 percent of parents who didn’t originally plan on applying for federal aid now will. And as WLVR’s Chloe Nouvelle reports, time is of the essence.

The Whitehall-Coplay School District is being sued over an incident involving a police altercation with students at a high school basketball game earlier this year.