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.
-
ASD Schools Superintendent Carol Birks said she believes it will take at least six months to determine the best ASD outcomes for graduates. -
LehighValleyNews.com has requested a copy of the five-year contract, which is retroactive to July 2022. A media law expert says the details should have been available to the public when the board voted on it.
-
Gov. Shapiro, Lehigh Valley lawmakers acknowledge political divisions, outstanding education fundingMembers of the politically divided Pennsylvania Legislature must compromise on a fix to resolve education funding inequities to the state's poorest public schools.
-
The athletic director announced the middle school cheer team's winter season was being postponed “with careful consideration and commitment to the overall well-being of our students.”
-
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.
-
The school district denied the application earlier this year. STEAM charters are also applying for charters in Bethlehem and Whitehall.
-
The 11-year-old Golden Retriever comforted Stephen Zamojski, whose Saint Bernard recently passed.
-
Capt. Jonathan Taylor's sword is on display at Nitschmann Middle School. He died in early 1863 after being wounded 105 days earlier at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
-
Former board members Nancy Wilt, Patrick Palmer and Evelyn Santana did not seek re-election.
-
Three Republican school board members are now part of the panel governing Nazareth schools, including two endorsed by the Moms for Liberty Northampton County chapter.
-
Allentown School District didn't attach the new food services contract to its Nov. 16 agenda despite union's assertion the school board had the final draft when it voted.
-
Under current plans, the new school would be built in 2025-2026 and replace the one that goes back more than 100 years.
-
A state mandate requiring schools to identify sexual content in books could cost Lehigh Valley school districts significant time, money and resources.
-
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.
