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. -
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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Some worry that supports for families at the schools could be lost.
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The appeal involves potential open meetings violations.
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The board may have violated transparency laws because key discussions about filling a vacancy did not happen in public, according to Melissa Melewsky, in-house counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.
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The university's Iacocca Global Entrepreneurship Intensive is a four-week workshop for 15-to-17-year-olds.
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The seat on the School Board of Directors was left vacant by state Sen. Nick Miller, following his election to the General Assembly
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Districts across the Lehigh Valley continue to feel the pandemic pinch over products like chicken patties and chips — and they're not expecting a change anytime soon.
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Twenty-three projects across the district won grants from the Allentown School District Foundation this year.
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A retired Northampton County judge is conducting an investigation for an undisclosed incident. The school board hired him at $495 an hour.
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The Parkland School Board stopped short of committing to advertising to fill the vacant seat of Jarrett Coleman, who was elected to the state Senate.
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District officials said the program is making it difficult to hire staffers because of certain requirements. They hope the move gives more latitude and actually leads to enrollment of more children in the district's child care program.
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Existing charter schools and parents of charter students say for years they've asked the school board to expand the number of students who may attend them.
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Students who are targeted because of their gender identity or sexual orientation can file a complaint with state commission.
