School News

The Parkland School District budget that was voted on and approved Tuesday night includes a 2.5% property tax increase. The tax hike is district's highest in the past seven years, but is still the lowest millage rate in Lehigh County.

The school board approved a preliminary budget Monday night. It does not raise property taxes in the 2023-24 school year.

They have been working without a contract since last summer and say they are overworked and short-staffed.

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.

Nazareth school board members said they want to review the current regulations for reviewing books, concerned it's a slippery slope. Reviewing all books submitted to the district could cost more than $100,000.

Theresa May, former prime minister of the U.K., spoke about threats to national security during a lecture Tuesday night at Lehigh University. It's part of the university's “Compelling Perspectives” lecture series.

When the Parkland School Board voted to close the district's tax office, it terminated an agreement in which the three townships in the district gave the district $5 from the Local Services Tax.

Kids from five schools got live demonstrations of cow milking, beekeeping, apple farming and more. Organizers say it's meant to spark interest and explain an industry that they say sometimes goes unappreciated.

The East Penn School Board held a presentation over proposed facilities expansions due to anticipated enrollment increases. Options included shifting grades 5/6 and 7/8 into their own buildings, and constructing a new high school.

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

A new playground is painted true to the original color scheme of the 1994 set it's replacing, and cost the school board $165,354.

The Allentown School District held Unity Day events at its 15 elementary schools on Wednesday. The message at each focused on bullying prevention, as October is National Bullying Prevention Month.

Several cases of the disease have been identified since school began in August.

The school board is expected to vote next week on a request by Moms for Liberty to ban a book. Three other written requests have also been filed.

East Penn School Board candidates gathered Tuesday evening for a candidate forum hosted by the League of Woman Voters, fielding questions about school safety, transparency, and facilities expansion among other issues.

Emmaus has proposed shifting crossing guard responsibilities to the East Penn School District citing declining volunteerism and a similar agreement with Lower Macungie Township