School News

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.

Aryash Shyam, a rising eighth-grader at Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School, created the GreenBeam to kill weeds with a laser. The project got him named the Pennsylvania State Merit Winner in the 2025 3M Young Scientist Challenge.

The victim was a Bethlehem Township resident and junior at Freedom High School, according to township Police Chief Gregory Gottschall. Authorities say a criminal investigation is underway.

A $25,000 donation from the Garrigan Foundation will allow Lehigh Valley Public Media to contribute to a summer enrichment program and similar events at local libraries. It restores a federal grant the Trump administration froze earlier this month in a strike against PBS and NPR.

Students' academic data was not compromised, the curriculum vendor told ASD. Students still have career-related work to complete online Friday through the program, Smart Futures.

The Allentown high school was recognized for registering students to vote and enlisting them to serve as poll workers.

Essentially a scholastic scrimmage for environmental science, the annual Envirothon combines classroom learning and outdoor activities to engage students in the environment. Find out where Lehigh Valley teams placed.

Nazareth Area School Board approved a bid for a nearly $500,000 parking lot for Shafer Elementary School to accommodate growth and ease on-street parking.

The program will offer an associate's degree, certificate or three-course diploma.

The peer mentorship and therapeutic counseling group began this school year as a way to give Spanish-speaking immigrant students a safe space to learn English and adjust to life in the United States.

The new name will take effect in the 2025-26 school year when students begin theme-based learning focused on computer science.

The new position will be focused on helping ASD recruit and retain teachers.

Palmer Township police officer John Smoke faces up to five years in prison. Authorities accused him of sending the photo to a 16-year-old while he was assigned to Easton Area High School as a resource officer.

Allentown School District has a balanced budget without any tax hikes for 2025-26 thanks to state investment and internal strategies, officials say.