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.
-
Sen. Nick Miller, D-Lehigh/Northampton, invited the state Senate’s top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee for a visit Tuesday of the Allentown School District’s oldest school buildings. -
The all-day conference is being hosted by The Thrive Hub.
-
The after-school program at Trexler Middle School will offer seven courses.
-
Birks was given a four-year contract as schools superintendent, serving until 2027. She has served in an interim capacity since last Oct. 31.
-
Local state lawmakers are reacting to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s call for $1 billion in new public education spending for the state’s students and schools.
-
Board Director Phoebe Harris blasted the board leadership's lack of transparency in a radio interview.
-
Groups that represent the district's majority-minority population are crying foul over what they describe as a lack of transparency and involvement in the process of identifying a new leader.
-
As interest in the education field continues to decline, the report recommends systemic changes. A hearing of the state Senate Education Committee to examine the issue is set for this week.
-
The city says by reducing the number of sponsored concerts at West Park, programmers will be able to include other bands in more neighborhoods.
-
Liz Bradbury has been an LGBTQ activist in the Lehigh Valley for more than 30 years.
-
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.
