School News

The East Penn school board approved a 2025-2026 budget Monday which will raise property taxes by 0.84 mills, the most allowed under state law without a referendum.

School directors approved the final 2025-26 budget Monday. The district increased taxes, cut spending and dipped into savings to balance the $373.2 million spending plan.

Nestled between John Makuvek Field and Priscilla Payne Hurd Academic Complex, the Main Street North Campus’ 70,000-square-foot, four-floor centerpiece dedicated to student wellness is set to open in the fall.

Arts Academy Charter Middle School in Salisbury Township dedicated the school building in honor of outgoing executive director William Fitzpatrick.

A family whose association with Muhlenberg College has stretched for 85 years has made a $1 million gift to the school to establish a business professorship. In addition, the gift will be matched by $1 million more from a previous benefactor's estate, the college announced Friday.

The sale will take place rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Broughal Middle School football field, 114 W. Morton St., in South Bethlehem.

Through the digital equity program, students, teachers and some other staff members at the Allentown schools will get an iPad equipped with a keyboard and 24/7 internet access.

A $50,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education will help create employment opportunities in the polymer, or plastics, industry.

Easton Area School District is moving forward with a final proposed budget set to be voted upon in late June, though it comes with a 3.5% tax increase which will help fund the new high school.

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.

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 state Office of Open Records has ordered the Allentown School District to release records connected to BusPatrol, the contractor responsible for administering the district’s stop-arm camera enforcement program.

A former Easton Area High School resource officer who pleaded guilty to sending a sexually explicit image of himself to a 16-year-old female student in 2024 was sentenced to 9-to-24 months in Northampton County Prison, it was announced on Wednesday.

The Trump administration announced in late June that it would not pay out more than $6 billion allocated through six grant programs created by Congress. For Parkland School District, that works out to $410,000 in lost funding.

Wilson Area High School Principal John Martuscelli soon will have a bit more time on his hands to focus on his grandson and his golf game.

A previous estimate for the proposed 1-million-square-foot warehouse shows the district would receive around $5 million from the property over 10 years with LERTA in effect.

As a key early vote approaches, several East Penn school board members again raised concerns Monday over plans to realign its middle grades, and how much the project will cost.