School News

The Southern Lehigh School Board will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the boardroom of Southern Lehigh High School to vote on both a separation agreement and mutual general release agreement between the district and Superintendent Michael Mahon.

Allentown school directors approved the $1.14 million partnership Thursday. The agreement runs from next month to June 30, 2028.

Alicia Knauff will start as the new acting head principal of Allen on Monday. She was hired as the principal of the school's Ninth Grade Academy before being tapped shortly after for the acting head role.

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.

Three Republican school board members are now part of the panel governing Nazareth schools, including two endorsed by the Moms for Liberty Northampton County chapter.

Allentown School District didn't attach the new food services contract to its Nov. 16 agenda despite union's assertion the school board had the final draft when it voted.

Under current plans, the new school would be built in 2025-2026 and replace the one that goes back more than 100 years.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a visit to Allentown that as part of his 2024-25 budget, he will fund a program providing scholarships to students in poor-performing school districts.

Lehigh University sophomore Rhema Hooper on Monday spoke at the United Nations about human rights during a program observing the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

A state mandate requiring schools to identify sexual content in books could cost Lehigh Valley school districts significant time, money and resources.

ASD Schools Superintendent Carol Birks said she believes it will take at least six months to determine the best ASD outcomes for graduates.

LehighValleyNews.com has requested a copy of the five-year contract, which is retroactive to July 2022. A media law expert says the details should have been available to the public when the board voted on it.

The school district is looking ahead to protect its land by submitting plans for a new school, all as road improvements are set to come at the nearby intersection of Freemansburg Avenue and Farmersville Road. Officials said no school is coming just yet, though.

The alleged double homicide of 16-year-old Rianna Glass and her mother Rosalyn Glass motivated Parkland School District resident Rachel Farrow to advocate for more education about teen dating violence and abuse.

Members of the politically divided Pennsylvania Legislature must compromise on a fix to resolve education funding inequities to the state's poorest public schools.

For students in the Moravian University marching band, playing the right notes is just part of what makes someone a great bandmate.