School News

A new program hitting Pennsylvania high schools is just one of many ways the state is responding to a teacher shortage that’s created cascading staffing challenges across the Commonwealth.

Central Bucks South High School librarian Matt Pecic said a principal told him to take down four posters with a quote from Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel.

The changes were previously criticized by one board member as 'hippy-dippy, woke stuff.' On Thursday night, they passed unanimously.

Superintendent Joe Roy says no violation of law or regulation was found. But the Pennsylvania Auditor General's Office said the district had other options at its disposal rather than relying on taxpayers.

Easton has been struggling with a shortage of school bus drivers for at least the past few years. Students were getting to school late or getting home late, so the district purchased software last year to design bus routes instead of doing them by hand to find efficiencies.

District Business Administrator Robert Saul presented a draft preliminary 2023-24 budget that shows a $7 million increase in projected expenditures, primarily driven by wage, benefits and service cost increases.

Under the proposal, history would be taught in themes instead of chronologically. ASD Board Director Phoebe Harris called it "woke" and opposes the change.

Director Patrick Foose has recently clashed with other board directors and has been the lone dissenting vote on several issues related to transparency on the board.

Lehigh president Joseph J. Helble said "racist language" was used, but the assault was not racially motivated.

Some Lehigh Valley school districts are reviewing their safety protocols for responding to injuries at area football games after Damar Hamlin's recent collapse brought renewed attention to the dangers of the sport.

GOP statehouse heads nix special session on statewide school mask requirement

Keeping students safe and healthy is a challenge as they return to in-person learning amid delta variant threat

Muhlenberg College gives returning sophomores the welcome weekend they missed last year.

Gov. Tom Wolf is asking Pennsylvania's legislature to quickly approve a new statewide mask mandate for schools because his administration is worried that students returning to schools are going back to an unsafe environment.

On Aug. 25, Gov. Tom Wolf wrote a letter requesting the state legislature return to Harrisburg to work on legislation that would require mask-wearing in K-12 schools and child care centers.

A report from Stanford University found enrollment in public schools in the United States fell by more than one million students last fall.

At Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC), fewer students are signing up for classes this semester, even when compared to fall 2020.

The Bethlehem Area School District is giving students and parents COVID-19 vaccines ahead of the new school year. The vaccine clinics are a way to bring children up to speed on their shots.

All students in the Bethlehem Area School District will be required to wear masks this fall.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is trying a two-pronged approach to keep K-12 school environments safe from a recent surge in COVID-19 cases.

Pennsylvania’s largest teachers union, which represents nearly 200,000 teachers and school workers on Monday commended the Pennsylvania Department of Health after it announced a plan to bring free COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinics to schools statewide.

The Bethlehem Area School District has added a new position to address the social and emotional needs of students and staff. The move comes as schools bring kids back to full-time in-person learning this fall.