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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Maria Shantz was one of a group of Republicans who signed a controversial pledge to create policies around gender and rejecting "wokeness."
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Lehigh Carbon Community College and Northampton Community College received money from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to help adults learn English.
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Moravian University and Lehigh Carbon Community College are working to remove barriers for Black and Latino high school students.
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School board members say a lack of internal controls contributed to the problems. They say the situation is being fixed.
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Benita Draper was the director of equity initiatives for the Bethlehem Area School District and a former elementary school principal.
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Paraprofessionals can get certified for free while continuing to work in their schools.
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The school board is expected to vote on hiring a collection agency to target student overdue lunch bills at its next meeting.
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There are currently 111 schools that offer girls' wrestling in Pennslyvania. Easton was the second school district to form a team.
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The House budget recently passed on a party-line vote increased school maintenance funding to $350 million from $100 million proposed by Gov. Josh Shapiro
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The employee under investigation at Easton Arts Academy Elementary Charter School was recently acting CEO until it hired its third CEO last month.
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Students struggle to return to brick-and-mortar schools after the pandemic, leading rise in home-schooling.
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The event featured drag performances, kids' face painting and a doggie drag.
