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.
-
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. -
The university's Iacocca Global Entrepreneurship Intensive is a four-week workshop for 15-to-17-year-olds.
-
The seat on the School Board of Directors was left vacant by state Sen. Nick Miller, following his election to the General Assembly
-
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.
-
Twenty-three projects across the district won grants from the Allentown School District Foundation this year.
-
A retired Northampton County judge is conducting an investigation for an undisclosed incident. The school board hired him at $495 an hour.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Students who are targeted because of their gender identity or sexual orientation can file a complaint with state commission.
-
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.
