School News

Parkland High School teachers reported suspected misconduct by ex-performing arts administrator Frank Anonia more than a decade before his arrest on charges of secretly recording a student in a dressing room, a former teacher testified. Anonia is due in court for a criminal trial this week.

The Lincoln Leadership Academy Charter School in Allentown held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its $16.8 million school for fourth-to-eighth graders on Friday morning.

Commonwealth Charter Academy, a large, public, cyber charter school for all school-age children, plans to convert a nearly 47,000-square-foot, one-story building into office space for teachers and staff at 2200 W. Broad St.

Critics of the hiring process argued for a superintendent search instead of a direct appointment. Others said Karen Trinkle had more than proven herself ready to lead, and a search would be lengthy and costly.

Planned to open to students for the 2027-28 school year, the roughly $59 million project will go up on the same land as its predecessor facility, which dated back to the 1930s.

School directors voted 5-2 to approve Ethan Ake-Little’s resignation and settlement agreement. His resignation takes effect Aug. 31.

Southern Lehigh school directors appointed Karen Trinkle as chief of schools. They also approved a settlement agreement with Ethan Ake-Little, the HR director who filed discrimination and retaliation complaints against the former superintendent.

Ethan Ake-Little has been suspended with pay since June while the district investigated allegations about his job performance. Ake-Little previously filed discrimination, retaliation and fraud complaints against the former superintendent.

Additional cleaning and air quality testing remain underway at Sheridan and Ritter elementary schools, Allentown School District said in an update Sunday.

School directors are scheduled to vote Monday on whether to promote Assistant Superintendent Karen Trinkle to chief of schools. The proposed five-year contract comes a month after school directors voted to part ways with the previous superintendent.

Local high school and college students — including first-generation college student biology major Rachel Apiolaza — received $1,000 scholarships from the Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley and the Latino Leadership Alliance in their first year presenting the awards since a merger.

The Pennsylvania College of Technology, an affiliate of Penn State University, will provide instructor-led labs at Allentown schools to prepare students for in-demand jobs in manufacturing. The program starts this month.

The school district alerted the community about three hours after an incident involving pepper spray occurred in the upstairs cafeteria of Emmaus High School on Wednesday afternoon. Legislation that went into effect this month requires districts to alert parents, guardians and teachers of school weapon incidents.

Wilson planners tabled a decision on plans for the proposed athletic field improvements at the high school to allow time for the developer to address the borough engineer's comments.

Of the thousands of stories covered and told in 2025, our staff picked some of their favorites. They included a bald eagle looking for love in the Hellertown area and an $11 million "sky dome" planned for Easton.

Pennsylvania’s distracted driving law will take full effect in 2026, marking one of the most consequential legal shifts for motorists in years and headlining a slate of new laws set to roll out across the Commonwealth.

With the new year comes a new season of high school musicals, as hundreds of student performers begin rehearsals, hoping for a nomination at the 24th annual Freddy Awards.

Shiv Patel, 18, has spent his winter break in Ahmedabad, India, leading robotics workshops for elementary school students.

A new app developed by Moravian Academy students aimed at detecting and warning developers about waste runoff has secured over $10,000 in funding from successful pitch presentations.

The data dashboard will be made publicly available on the Allentown School District's website in early 2026. It will show attendance and absentee rates by school, grade, student groups and more.

The Coursemojo pilot was funded by the philanthropy arm of Digital Promise, a global education nonprofit. The cost of the pilot is $45,754.

The district plans to build academic and athletic additions at the school site to accommodate more grades and the theme-based academy's focus on health, science, innovation and technology.