School News

A new program hitting Pennsylvania high schools is just one of many ways the state is responding to a teacher shortage that’s created cascading staffing challenges across the Commonwealth.

Central Bucks South High School librarian Matt Pecic said a principal told him to take down four posters with a quote from Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel.

The changes were previously criticized by one board member as 'hippy-dippy, woke stuff.' On Thursday night, they passed unanimously.

Superintendent Joe Roy says no violation of law or regulation was found. But the Pennsylvania Auditor General's Office said the district had other options at its disposal rather than relying on taxpayers.

Easton has been struggling with a shortage of school bus drivers for at least the past few years. Students were getting to school late or getting home late, so the district purchased software last year to design bus routes instead of doing them by hand to find efficiencies.

District Business Administrator Robert Saul presented a draft preliminary 2023-24 budget that shows a $7 million increase in projected expenditures, primarily driven by wage, benefits and service cost increases.

Under the proposal, history would be taught in themes instead of chronologically. ASD Board Director Phoebe Harris called it "woke" and opposes the change.

Director Patrick Foose has recently clashed with other board directors and has been the lone dissenting vote on several issues related to transparency on the board.

Lehigh president Joseph J. Helble said "racist language" was used, but the assault was not racially motivated.

Some Lehigh Valley school districts are reviewing their safety protocols for responding to injuries at area football games after Damar Hamlin's recent collapse brought renewed attention to the dangers of the sport.

A pretrial conference was held Wednesday in federal court stemming from Liberty High School Assistant Principal Antonio Traca's federal civil rights lawsuit against retiring Superintendent Joseph Roy and the Bethlehem Area School District.

Megan Ryan, the VP for enrollment at Muhlenberg College, said the college will not change its diversity goals following the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action.

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.

This week's Supreme Court ruling overturned 45 years of precedent. What remains to be seen is how much damage it might do to our competitiveness as a nation — and how colleges and universities can help mitigate it.

Speakers accuse public school officials, teachers' unions of trying to "sexualize children" or indoctrinating them. Some called for restricting LGBTQ books. Protestors traveled from the Lehigh Valley and beyond to stand against the Moms for Liberty's "extremism" and in support of LGBTQ people.

High school seniors in Pennsylvania would be required to fill out a form that determines eligibility for financial aid for postsecondary programs under a bill passed by the state Senate.

Public school advocates worry vouchers will divert money from public education into charters or private schools.

Michael St. Pierre will assume the position as the diocese's fifth superintendent effective Aug. 1, the diocese said in a news release

Maria Shantz was one of a group of Republicans who signed a controversial pledge to create policies around gender and rejecting "wokeness."

Lehigh Carbon Community College and Northampton Community College received money from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to help adults learn English.

Moravian University and Lehigh Carbon Community College are working to remove barriers for Black and Latino high school students.

A coalition with wealthy backers is pushing Pennsylvania lawmakers to use public dollars to create tuition vouchers so K-12 students can attend private schools. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration is in support of this idea.