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Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
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Old 04-22-2020, 05:31 AM
 
11 posts, read 12,517 times
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We own a second home in the Poconos and are now moving here full-time (time to change my username!). We have a two year old son and we’d like to find a new home with school choice in mind, whether public or private (but not parochial). Where are the best public schools? Does anyone have any experience with Summit School of the Poconos or A Growing Concern? Are there other private schools to consider? Should we also be looking at the Nazareth School District? My husband and I can both work from home so commuting time to NYC is not important.
Thank you very much for any advice and guidance, and I hope you’re all safe, healthy, and happy during these trying times.
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Old 04-22-2020, 06:13 AM
 
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I have been looking online to answer this question and have not found a lot of good resources so I'll be curious to hear what others on the forum have to say. I'm looking for best public and private elementary and middle schools "close" to Pocono Pines. Thanks.
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Old 04-22-2020, 06:41 AM
 
Location: Saylorsburg, PA
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Pleasant Valley school district is among the highest rated & highly recommended school district....you may want to look in that area which is in the Brodheadsville area....
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Old 04-22-2020, 06:45 AM
 
Location: Saylorsburg, PA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nycfamily View Post
Are there other private schools to consider?

Private as in catholic?? Yes there are depending on where you're located:


This is the one my nephew goes to:


https://www.immaculateconceptionschool.net/


his sister also went there since childhood and then went to BECA:


https://becahi.org/


both are not cheap but not super-expensive compared to the Big Apple.....
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Old 04-22-2020, 09:47 AM
 
Location: Shawnee-on-Delaware, PA
8,055 posts, read 7,422,895 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidWebb View Post
Private as in catholic?? Yes there are depending on where you're located:
I was about to chime in with a ringing endorsement of Notre Dame in East Stroudsburg when I realized the OP specified "not parochial". If the OP was open to Catholic school I would have said that our two sons went to ND from Pre-K (Montessori) thru 12 (classes of '13 and '16) and we all loved it. (Actually, the word "parochial" makes me think of black & white movies with dozens of fully-habited nuns milling about, but it's not like that anymore).

Summit School in East Stroudsburg is a fairly new charter school and I don't know anything about them, pro or con. A Growing Concern Montessori has been around a long time and has a good reputation.

The only other non-Catholic private school in the Poconos I can think of is the Evergreen School in Cresco. Classes are really tiny, each grade only has a dozen of so kids. Needless to say it's tough to get into so they have a lottery (from what I hear).

Technically Nazareth is the Slate Belt, not the Poconos. But it seems like a nice town. We know people who live there after moving down from East Stroudsburg, but they sent their kids to Notre Dame of Easton/Green Pond for the sports.

We live in the East Stroudsburg South district and even though we sent our kids to Catholic school I have nothing against our local public school. A lot of my kids' teammates, fellow Boy Scouts, etc. went to public school and it's just fine. In fact because of the sheer size of the public school there are more sports available and a wider variety of elective classes.
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Old 04-22-2020, 03:03 PM
 
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Most all public schools in the Pocono area have very good physical facilities. Academic wise it's a different story. In PA, taxpayers have no say on bond proposals to build and equip new schools. Activist school board members can stick the taxpayers with $10s of millions of debt- all that's required is to hold an "Act 34" general meeting to inform the public.


Many long time residents in Pike and Monroe Counties have been forced to leave due to ever rising school taxes. This is especially true in the East Stroudsburg and Delaware Valley School Districts.


Academic wise, the best schools are in locations where there are lots of professionals. The students in such schools are competitive. Most folks who live in the Poconos are not in the professional classes. If their children do go to college, it's likely to be state universities like East Stroudsburg, Bloomsburg, Mansfield or Kutztown.
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Old 04-27-2020, 05:16 PM
 
11 posts, read 12,517 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wells5 View Post
Academic wise, the best schools are in locations where there are lots of professionals.
Which towns/neighborhoods have a lot of professionals? We both attended excellent schools hope to provide a similar experience for our son.

Many thanks to people who have responded kindly thus far.
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Old 04-28-2020, 06:12 AM
 
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The best academic school district in NEPA is Abington Heights north of Scranton. The 2nd best is the Dallas Area School District in the "back mountain" area of greater Wilkes-Barre. They are technically not in the Poconos.


There are a lot of top notch public schools in suburban Bucks County northeast of Philadelphia but Bucks is an expensive area.
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Old 04-28-2020, 08:49 AM
 
Location: Saylorsburg, PA
1,935 posts, read 3,142,011 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nycfamily View Post
Which towns/neighborhoods have a lot of professionals? We both attended excellent schools hope to provide a similar experience for our son.

Many thanks to people who have responded kindly thus far.

Doesn't matter where the "professionals" are out here since there aren't any "professional" jobs to speak of in the NEPA area nor strictly "professional" neighborhoods either. The only MAJOR employer is Sanofi Aventis in Swiftwater where the flu vaccine is manufactured and good luck getting in there. Not an easy employer to get hired by and you have to go through Manpower to get in. So as I said as far as where "professional" types live it doesn't matter. They're living out here and working in either the Garden State or the Big Apple and even professionals can be rather uneducated in the way they live. I've seen it all since coming out here in '96 and living full-time since 2007. With their big city educations came their big city rude attitudes hence the reason they're frowned upon and not readily accepted into the population that has been here for generations. Its sad because I remember when I first started coming out here in '96 how friendly the locals were in general and in doing business with them. Back then there were no Lowes, Home Depot, Target, BJ's, or any of the big box stores and restaurants that are here now. But going back to the "professionals" you inquire about most, because of the commute, live within easy driving distance of Rt. 80 or Rt. 84 for access to the interstates. So that should give you an idea.

Last edited by DavidWebb; 04-28-2020 at 08:50 AM.. Reason: typos corrected
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Old 04-28-2020, 12:47 PM
 
5,297 posts, read 6,173,625 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidWebb View Post
Doesn't matter where the "professionals" are out here since there aren't any "professional" jobs to speak of in the NEPA area nor strictly "professional" neighborhoods either.

You are forgetting the Scranton and Wilkes-Bare area which are in NEPA but not in the Poconos. There are lots of professionals working and/or living in those cities.


Forgot to mention the Lehigh Valley area. This is a beautiful area with many nice suburbs and good schools and it's close to NYC. Check the thread linked below.


https://www.city-data.com/forum/lehi...t-town-lv.html
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