
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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State Senate Republicans added vouchers back to the budget while cutting Level Up funding for Allentown and Bethlehem Area school districts.
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The Satanic Temple sued the Saucon Valley School District after district officials reversed course and barred the After School Satan Club from meeting in district buildings.
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There's two new candidates in the Allentown School Board race and one in the Southern Lehigh School board race.
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The Lehigh Valley child care centers already have long waitlists, staffing shortages and high costs.
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It's inspired by a hierarchal basic needs pyramid proposed by American psychologist Abraham Maslow in the 1940s.
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The National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, is predicting highs in the 90s through Thursday. The Allentown School District sent students home early Tuesday because of the heat.
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Sairett Rosario is the first female football player at Broughal Middle School since Alondra Cruz played football there in the 2017-2018 school year.
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Former Allen High School Cheryl Clark was demoted to assistant principal last month.
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The event included choral and dance performances by teachers and students.
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Some Lehigh Valley school districts are seeing an increase in chronic absenteeism and truancy following the COVID-19 pandemic. And what was already an issue before COVID appears to have reached a level of urgency in some schools.
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Speakers accuse public school officials, teachers' unions of trying to "sexualize children" or indoctrinating them. Some called for restricting LGBTQ books. Protestors traveled from the Lehigh Valley and beyond to stand against the Moms for Liberty's "extremism" and in support of LGBTQ people.
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Public school advocates worry vouchers will divert money from public education into charters or private schools.
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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.