Jim Thorpe School District/ west end schools (Lehighton, Palmerton: wages, tax)

[still lookin' for "home"]

Hey folks.
Does anyone have kids going to Jim Thorpe? Palmerton? Lehighton? Pleasant Valley?
What's the real dish? I'm getting a mixed bag in my research.

Thanks.
Lookin'

[poconoproud]

I can say Pleasant Valley is a pretty good district. My kids attend both PVI, and the middle school. The middle school is stricter, as the kids get older, but all in all I never had a problem. A big issue w our district is that the board has elected to hire out a private company for busing and other staff, and that is bad news for a lot of parents and others from the community working at the school. I have many friends who are bus drivers, and hope they keep their jobs. The high school is right now installing artificial turf, and has made some other improvements to the high school/middle school grounds. Our tax dollars and grants hard at work...

[still lookin' for "home"]

That's interesing- very interesting. I *love* the West End.
Any word on IEP kids? Learning disabilities or autism...?
What's the feedback on high school?
Thanks!
Lookin'

[poconoproud]

my daughter is an iep kid, not learning disabled, but partially blind. A-#1 at PV. I have a friend w/ a child w/ down syndrome, and she is as pleased as I with PV as far as services and assistance at school.

have fun lookin, lookin!

[didariok]

Moving to Palmerton school district on Friday. I have heard very good things about their IEP program. We'll see how the transiton goes!

BTW, I've gotten mixed reviews on PV school district.

[fragilflowers]

I agree. Pleasant Valley needs to be more professional and compassionate to their tax payers and parents of their students. We do not need fancy gardening, fancy classrooms, automated bathroom features, etc. Pleasant Valley needs to put more money into their education system. We need more teacher aides and monitors. More monitors will ensure safety in our hallways, bathrooms, etc. There are so many children who need one-on-one assistance and are not getting it. If our children are to score high on the PSSA's then PVS needs to cut the non-priority issues out of the budet and get down to EDUCATION. What does an automated bathroom sink and other fancy things have to do with quality education? My grandparents used an outhouse and received fine education. I'm not battering the education system completely. PVS teachers to a fine job. I'm just stating that they could do a much better job if they had more assistance. If PVS needs to put 25 children in a classroom with one teacher, then they need to give those teachers assistance by hiring more aides. These aides don't necessarily need to have a fancy degree and get paid high wages. There are many highly qualified candidates who have experience and training who would be pleased to have a job in the school system. Helping children excel to their fullest potential is so important, when will pvs and the BOARD OF DIRECTORS finally realize that! "Teachers work hard"! Let's give them the support they need to educate our first priority, "children"!!!

[krp123]

I was always envious of an ex-boyfriend who attended Jim Thorpe School District. I will admit that was 10 years ago, but I really wished I was able to enjoy smaller class sizes and a small town feel. Everyone knew everyone. I graduated from Pocono Mountain (before they split to east and west) and I can look through the yearbook and scratch my head wondering if I had EVER seen half the people I went to school with.

So many of the students who graduated from JT (at least back then) were proud to wear their honors and boast of their extra-curricular accomplishments.