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.
-
Schools Superintendent Carol Birks hosted the forum. She said she wanted to make sure the public understands how the district is spending its money. -
Lehigh Valley state Rep. Mike Schlossberg's legislation to create more local teachers received the support of 19 Republicans and now moves to the state Senate.
-
Five Republican candidates have signed a pledge to ban transgender students from using the bathroom of their choice and review the curriculum for "wokeness."
-
Executive Education Academy Charter School wants 90 more Allentown students.
-
Dieruff High School principal Michael Makhoul resigned this week, on heels of William Allen principal being put on administrative leave
-
Afterschool Satan Club is asking a federal court to be let back on campus.
-
The Bethlehem school was closed for two days after the wall on an exterior stairwell collapsed Monday.
-
The Bethlehem Area School District formally accepted Superintendent Joe Roy's resignation and hired assistant superintendent and chief academic officer Jack Silva for the role.
-
A Children First report looked at Allentown, Pittsburgh, Chester-Upland and Philadelphia school districts.
-
Allentown schools Superintendent Carol Birks said she plans to form a task force find ways to enroll more young children into early learning programs, with families on waitlists across the Lehigh Valley and statewide.
-
Kids are singing more frequently and playing more instruments in city school classrooms, thanks to beefed-up state funding, according to educators. Cooking, nutrition and financial literacy also are getting more attention.
-
The Allentown School District Foundation has raised more than $8 million to support students in the city's schools since 2009. For reasons that aren't clear, the Allentown School Board is considering cutting ties with the foundation.
-
Coleman filed the transparency lawsuit in 2021 before becoming a Parkland School Board member, and ultimately, a state senator representing parts of Lehigh and Bucks counties.
-
While moderate Republicans and Democrats prevailed in most races, two Moms for Liberty candidates won seats on the Nazareth Area school board in Northampton County.
-
In Southern Lehigh School District, 10 candidates faced off for five seats on the nine-member school board.
-
Parental rights are on the agenda in school races as moms versus moms battle for control to set policies on book restrictions, bathrooms, transgender students and teaching history.
-
Candidates have different takes on whether taxes should raised to support capital improvements, expanding kindergarten classes and teacher retention.
-
The decision comes after several members of community group Promise Neighborhoods, an anti-violence nonprofit, accused Phoebe Harris of unprofessional behavior.
-
Nazareth school board members said they want to review the current regulations for reviewing books, concerned it's a slippery slope. Reviewing all books submitted to the district could cost more than $100,000.
-
The school board is expected to vote next week on a request by Moms for Liberty to ban a book. Three other written requests have also been filed.
-
The Allentown School District will deploy metal detectors at certain entrance points at each of the three high schools in the Allentown School District — Allen High, Dieruff High and Building 21 — and at J. Birney Crum Stadium.
-
District staff, students, staff and community members gathered at Allen High School to give feedback about implementing metal detectors and other security measures.
