Our School History

 The first schools of record were recorded in Lower Saucon.  They were church operated at Christ Lutheran Church on Easton Road and New Jerusalem Church on Apple's Church Road, where the schoolhouse predated the church.  According to an article attributed to Herbert S. Weisel for "The Look Back," records show that by 1839, just five years after the passage of the Pennsylvania Free Public School Act, the Lower Saucon Township School District had 10 one-room schools, including one on Main Street in the township village of Hellertown.  In 1872, the township village of Hellertown was incorporated as a borough and its public school became part of the Hellertown School District. 

 A number of schools, mostly one-room, were recorded as serving the students of Lower Saucon Township during the years prior to 1958: 

• Shimersville School was located in the former village located along the Lehigh River across from the present Bethlehem Sewerage Facility south of the Freemansburg Bridge. 
• Redington School was located near the village of Redington along the Lehigh River in the northern part of the township. 
• Franklin School, a former Lower Saucon Township High School, located on route 412, served as the Zawick Manufacturing building (now razed) and is now a used car lot. 
• Lutz-Franklin school is located on Countryside Road. it is currently used by the Lower Saucon Historical Society as a field trip for students to experience a day in a one-room schoolhouse. 
• Union School was in the vicinity of Kunsman’s Crossing where Easton Road meets Lower Saucon Road. 
• South Eastern School now serves as space for the Southeastern Fire Company on Wassergass Road. 
• Two Polk Valley Schoolhouses were located on Polk Valley Road. The older school was located on the creek to the east of Reservoir Road and the more recent building was located further east toward Lower Saucon Road. 
• The United or "Temple" school was located across the former Lower Saucon Elementary School on Wassergass Road. 
• Appleport School was located south of Hellertown off Route 412 next to the New Jerusalem Cemetery. 
• Solliday’s or Leithsville School was located on Route 412 south of Leithsville. 
• Bingen School was a two-room schoolhouse on Bingen Road. 
• Black River School was located near the intersection of Black River Road and Freidensville Road. 
• Seidersville School, a four-classroom building on the Old Philadelphia Pike, is part of the Lower Saucon Township Government Complex. 
• Lehigh Mountain School was located on the crest of the mountain on present day Route 378 near Mountain Drive. 
• University School is recorded but its location is uncertain. 
• Steel City School served the children of the village of Steel City. 
• Limekiln School was located on Creek Road where it intersects with Seidersville Road. 
• Furnace or Furnace Hill School was located on Route 412 where the Sauconia Movie theatre building stands (now a Dentist Office). 
• Lower Saucon Church School was located across from Christ Lutheran Church, Lower Saucon on Easton Road. Now refurbished, it is used by the church as a preschool. 
• The Wassergass School was located on Wassergass Road between Wilhelm Road and Lower Saucon Road. 
• The Furnace and Franklin Schools became part of the Hellertown School District, as did the Lower Saucon Township High School on High Street. After that, education in the township ended at eighth grade and students could choose to attend high school in Hellertown or Bethlehem to complete their education. 

 With the opening of the Hellertown High School on Main Street, twelfth grade was added.  In 1952, the population growth necessitated the addition of four classrooms to Reinhard Elementary.  In 1953, joint operations between the borough and township schools began.  Plans were made to improve facilities for all students.  In September 1957, a new addition with eight classrooms, a multipurpose room and other space was completed at Reinhard.  In September 1958, Lower Saucon Elementary School on Wassergass Road opened, replacing thirteen obsolete buildings, ten of them one-room schools.   In January 1959, Hellertown High School reopened as the renovated and expanded Hellertown Lower Saucon Joint Junior-Senior High School.  In April 1962, the Wolf Elementary School renovation and annexation of a classroom, cafeteria and auditorium was complete.

On December 5, 1966, the joint school system was dissolved and the Saucon Valley School District was organized.  In 1971, a new Saucon Valley Senior High School was completed on a 98 acre parcel (known as the Herman tract) between Walnut Street and Polk Valley Road. The former high school on Main Street became Saucon Valley Junior High School.

 In 1982, with a decline of elementary age students, the Wolf Elementary School building was closed, sold and now serves as an apartment building.  In 1989, sixth grade was moved out of the elementary school and the Junior High was reconfigured as a Middle School.  Ninth grade was moved to the high school.  In the mid-1990s, concerns about the district’s older buildings resulted in a community facilities study.  Reinhard and Lower Saucon Elementary along with Saucon Valley Middle School on Main Street were slated to be replaced by a contiguous structure connected to the high school that would provide facilities for grades K-12 on one campus. Groundbreaking took place on October 18, 1997 and the facility opened for students in September 1999.  The new structures included Elementary and Middle School facilities along with a Science Pod addition to the high school and Administrative offices.  The unique design allows space to be reconfigured for uses according to student and program needs.  Several additional wings in the elementary facility completed in 2002 provided additional space for the growing school age population.  

In 2002, the Lutz Franklin Schoolhouse was deeded to the Lower Saucon Historical Society for renovation and presently serves as a museum of early education.  With the opening of the campus, the building on Main Street, which served as a high school, junior high school and middle school, was sold and now functions as Saucon Valley Manor, a facility for senior citizens.  Lower Saucon Elementary School was also sold.  The Reinhard building was retained and leased for several years to Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 as Second Chance Academy, an alternative school.  Reinhard was conveyed to the Borough of Hellertown in 2003.  After years of being unoccupied and in need of costly repairs, Reinhard was demolished in 2012.