School 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.

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.

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.

Kutztown University's jazz ensemble was recognized by DownBeat magazine for Outstanding Performance in its Student Music Awards. It's the 10th win for Kutztown's commercial music program but the first for the jazz ensemble.

Allentown School District will work with a new transportation provider next school year, Student Transportation of America. The district has a number of new transportation offerings for 2024-25, including free LANTA access for charter school students.

Jace Pooley, 16, recently wrote an article about his experience with autism for Pediatrics, a scholarly journal. Today, he's leading the First Annual Autism Community Walk in Bethlehem.

Alicia Knauff will lead Allen High School's Ninth Grade Academy as its first ever principal. She's a former Whitehall-Coplay school administrator.

More than 80 Dieruff High School 10th-graders worked together to create a mural, displayed on the wall of a second-floor hallway. This is the second student-led mural to be completed in the Allentown School District series funded by PA State GEAR UP.

Allentown Education Association President Leslie Franklin shared teacher concerns with the district administration at a Thursday school board meeting.

The statement accuses President Donald Trump's administration of "government overreach" and "political interference" that is putting higher education in danger.

The school district wants the Lower Nazareth Township Board of Supervisors to rezone a piece of land at the corner of Hecktown and Country Club roads for school use.

Two proposed school district land development projects were among projects advanced by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s Comprehensive Planning Committee on Tuesday afternoon.

Northampton Area Public Library was slated to get $270,000 from Northampton Area School District for the upcoming fiscal year. But some school directors want to keep the money in NASD.

The school board accepted the resignation of Kim Bretzik at their meeting earlier this week. Applicants will be interviewed to fill the vacancy April 30.

Debbie Merisca has been a teacher since 2018. She left the hospitality industry to find fulfillment working in early childhood education.

In 1989, Yusef Salaam and four other teenagers were imprisoned after being wrongly accused and convicted of raping a woman in Central Park in New York. At Northampton Community College on Tuesday night, he shared his story and the need to address inequities in the criminal justice system.

Parkland Area School Board reviewed the district's capital action plan Tuesday, and even though 2026 projects are limited at the moment, the potential for more spending and a potential tax increase to accommodate it, remain.