School News

Southern Lehigh Superintendent Michael Mahon remains on administrative leave after the school board president publicly criticized his performance.

Northampton Area Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik will no longer retire at the end of this school year like he planned. The superintendent said it's not the right time for him to leave the district.

Allentown School Director Lisa Conover first joined the board in late 2017 and was re-elected in 2021. She will not run for re-election in the 2025 cycle.

After a maintenance issue closed Harrison-Morton Middle School for repairs in mid-February, students and staff learned virtually for eight days. Last week, they returned to in-person learning at temporary sites throughout Allentown.

The Northampton Area School Board approved Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik's retirement last November. The board, however, will consider rescinding his retirement during its Monday night meeting.

Southern Lehigh Superintendent Michael Mahon remains on administrative leave following public criticism of his performance from the school board president last week.

WASD approved their assistant superintendent job description on Monday evening, just about a month after confirming Amy Austin for the role which entails many of her former responsibilities.

Governor Josh Shapiro stopped by Farmersville Elementary in Bethlehem Twp. Monday to rally support for a program offering stipends to student teachers.

In June, alumni of PBS39's long-running "Scholastic Scrimmage" high school quiz show will come together for networking and a screening of a documentary to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

At the Allentown Art Museum on Saturday, Dr. James Nangeroni was gifted a painting he entered into a Crayola children's arts contest when he was a third-grade student at Dodd Elementary in 1992.

Lehigh University is launching a new lecture series called Compelling Perspectives. Theresa May will be the inaugural speaker.

Gov. Josh Shapiro made a deal with Senate Republicans to include vouchers in the budget, angering Democrats and unions. He reversed that course of action after facing backlash and has promised to veto them.

The Bethlehem Area School Board kept secret the findings of an independent investigation paid with taxpayer funds. The probe focused on an incident involving the superintendent and a Liberty High School assistant principal at a football game. The assistant principal filed a civil rights lawsuit against Roy and the district.

The Supreme Court struck down 45 years of precedent when it barred affirmative action in college admissions on June 29. Officials at Lafayette College, Lehigh University and Muhlenberg College said they hope their holistic approaches will help them attract and retain diverse student bodies.

An effort to subject Pennsylvania’s cyber charter schools to stronger ethics standards and curb the amount of money school districts must pay them passed the state House of Representatives.

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.

WLVR's Megan Frank talks with Sarah Mueller and Phil Gianficaro.

Pre-school orientation is scheduled for the week of Aug. 21.

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.