School News

National issues are seeping into local races, turning elections into proxy partisan fights over race and gender.

Take a look at stories throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

Many of the nine candidates seeking one of five seats on the board said the race has been insulated from clashes over social issues.

The four-year contract will raise salaries by nearly 4.7% in the 2023-24 school year, with additional increase each subsequent year. The school board ratified a new contract with the teacher's union, the Allentown Education Association, on Thursday night.

Lehigh Valley high school students had the opportunity to see firsthand what it's like to be a nurse. A nursing simulation was held during National Nurses Week.

A plan two years in the making is proving to be successful in Allentown. Nurses for the city and the district worked together to make sure students are safe from preventable disease.

Candidates have formed two groups: one made up of mostly incumbents, and the other made up of Republican challengers. Transparency, spending and projected overcrowding in the district's middle and high schools have become key issues in the race.

The Lehigh Valley STEAM Academy Charter School is seeking approval to open at an office building on South 12th Street that’s zoned for industrial uses.

Democrats in Lehigh and Northampton counties requested three times more mail-in ballots than their Republican neighbors for next week's primary election.

The After School Satan Club met for the first time Wednesday at Saucon Valley Middle School — a little more than a week after a federal judge ordered the school district to allow three meetings by the end of the school year.

Wilson Area School Board unanimously approved its $49 million budget for the 2025-26 school year on Monday night. Included is a 3.5% tax increase.

Nazareth High junior Brody Muthard will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a playground he created for autistic children at the Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 in Bethlehem. Muthard received intervention and therapies for autism at the I.U. as a child.

Two area community colleges are expanding their dual enrollment programming, which enables high school students to better prepare for college and careers. The Pennsylvania Department of Education awarded $14 million in Dual Credit Innovation Grants to 15 public institutions of higher education to increase their programming.

Developers behind the new Easton Area School District high school presented some refinements and updates on the project plans to the school board at their Tuesday meeting.

Easton Area School District's board voted in favor of a health insurance buyout option that will offer employees $6,000 in lieu of coverage, offering potentially substantial savings to the district.

With the increase, the average taxpayer would see his or her annual property tax bill increase about $13.99 a month, or $168 total from the year before.

School directors voted 5-3 for a $140.7 million spending plan that includes a 4% tax hike, which would raise $3.2 million in additional revenue for the district.

A new version of Bethlehem Area School District's 2025-26 school year budget presented Monday includes a tax hike and a $5.9M fund drawdown ahead of a final June vote.

School directors voted 5-3 to continue funding the Northampton Area Public Library at its current level.

Isavel Mendoza will study theater at Pace University in the fall. He began writing poetry in first grade and comes from a family of artists in the Dominican Republic.

The awards show is now in its 23rd year and will take place on May 22 at the State Theatre.

The Catasauqua School Board voted to continue the football team's annual Thanksgiving Day game against Northampton. The rivalry on the gridiron is 101 years old.