
Sarah Mueller
Education reporterAn experienced journalist, I joined LehighValleyNews.com as its education reporter. I bring several years of media experience at public radio stations including NPR Illinois, WFSU Public Media and Delaware Public Media. I’ve covered state and local government, interviewing lawmakers, governors and congressional leaders. In my personal life, I’m a passionate animal lover, hiker and documentary enthusiast. A documentary for which I worked as a researcher, Fire in the Meadows, won first place at the 2022 Tallahassee Film Festival for best documentary short film. It explored the effects of an investor buying a local mobile home park, raising rents and forcing tenants out of their homes. Contact me at SarahM@lehighvalleynews.com or and subscribe to my newsletter here.
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District officials surveyed thousands of students who want the uniform guidelines eliminated so they can express themselves with their own clothing styles.
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Conservative Republican slates targeting LGBTQ issues and library books swept GOP primary races across three districts. Democrats and moderate Republicans who cross-filed landed victories on the Democratic ticket.
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Two of the three candidates supported by Moms for Liberty Northampton survived the primary, both being in Region I.
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The race featured two slates of Republican candidates and one Democrat. One slate of candidates took a pledge to enact policies regarding LGBTQ students and "woke" curriculum.
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The school board approved a preliminary budget Monday night. It does not raise property taxes in the 2023-24 school year.
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They have been working without a contract since last summer and say they are overworked and short-staffed.
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National issues are seeping into local races, turning elections into proxy partisan fights over race and gender.
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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.
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The After School Satan Club met for the first time Wednesday at Saucon Valley Middle School — a little more than a week after a federal judge ordered the school district to allow three meetings by the end of the school year.
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Culture war issues are hot topics in the races for four of the nine seats on the Nazareth Area School Board up for election this year. Three incumbents are not seeking re-election.
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The Upper Nazareth Township Board of Supervisors vetoed an inclusivity celebration in a heated meeting Wednesday night. The organizer says the event will still happen, but in a new location.
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The schools are under pressure from the Shapiro administration to improve outcomes for students.
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The superintendent details new initiatives and cost-cutting measures.
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Dozens of bus monitors, who provide support to students while riding, have been laid off because of funding cuts in Allentown.
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It would potentially take one of the pills used in a medication abortion off the market
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The Allentown School District has placed William Allen High School Principal Cheryl Clark on administrative leave after months of complaints from staff, students and parents about her leadership style.
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Joseph Roy, the superintendent of the Bethlehem Area School District, is being sued in federal court by Liberty High School Assistant Principal Antonio Traca. Roy says he has never struck a district employee. Read the complaint here.
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The center hopes to expand its reach beyond Allentown.
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School district officials aren't publicly saying who is the current principal at William Allen High School. District spokeswoman Melissa Reese said Thursday it was a personnel matter and the district was unable to comment.
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Parents and teens say bathroom access at Building 21 is unpredictable as many of the facilities are closed all day at times.
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The Saucon Valley School District refused to host Satan Club programming. It was a reversal from an initial decision to allow it. Now it's the subject of a legal fight.
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Authorities say several schools were targeted, including Allen High School in Allentown and Catasauqua High School. Police and parents rushed to the schools.