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Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
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Thread summary:

Moving to Pennsylvania: great schools, rental, buying a house, transplants.

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Old 12-22-2008, 09:00 AM
 
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We moved about 18 months ago from Philadelphia to Frederick, MD. I just heard that the hubby may be getting a promotion and we may have to head to Wilkes-Barre. I have no clue about NEPA!

We have a 6 year old son so we'd want something with a favorable school district. Can anyone direct me as to the areas that I should look into and those to stay away from?

Thanks in advance!
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Old 12-22-2008, 09:17 AM
 
Location: NE PA
7,931 posts, read 15,821,616 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nmlmom View Post
We moved about 18 months ago from Philadelphia to Frederick, MD. I just heard that the hubby may be getting a promotion and we may have to head to Wilkes-Barre. I have no clue about NEPA!

We have a 6 year old son so we'd want something with a favorable school district. Can anyone direct me as to the areas that I should look into and those to stay away from?

Thanks in advance!

Stay away from the city of Wilkes-Barre....W-B schools are not good. Plains Twp, Wilkes-Barre Twp. and Bear Creek should also be avoided, even though these are decent areas, because they are part of the Wilkes-Barre School District. There are some decent sections of Wilkes-Barre city left, but the problem is that your kids will have to go to Wilkes-Barre schools.

My recommendation would be to go across the river from Wilkes-Barre to Kingston, Forty Fort, or Swoyersville to the Wyoming Valley West School District or a little further up the river to West Pittston, Wyoming, or West Wyoming to the Wyoming Area School District.
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Old 12-22-2008, 10:16 AM
 
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Mountaintop is the place I'd go. I went to Crestwood and I think it's one of the best districts around. Plus the homes are up there very very nice.
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Old 12-22-2008, 10:19 AM
 
Location: NE PA
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The downside to Mountaintop, though, would be exactly what its name suggests...its at the top of a mountain, and winter weather (and Mountaintop gets more snow/ice than the valley) can make travelling down that mountain to Wilkes-Barre for work a bit dangerous. I don't know much else about Mountaintop other than the thought of coming down the hill on 309 in snow/ice scares me.
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Old 12-22-2008, 11:37 AM
 
Location: NEPA
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There is an alternative to the WB school district - the Bear Creek Charter, although there is a waiting list.
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Old 12-22-2008, 11:43 AM
 
Location: NE PA
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Originally Posted by retrovintage View Post
There is an alternative to the WB school district - the Bear Creek Charter, although there is a waiting list.
Is Bear Creek Charter a high school also?
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Old 12-22-2008, 11:48 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,617 posts, read 77,614,858 times
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Originally Posted by go phillies View Post
Stay away from the city of Wilkes-Barre....W-B schools are not good. Plains Twp, Wilkes-Barre Twp. and Bear Creek should also be avoided, even though these are decent areas, because they are part of the Wilkes-Barre School District. There are some decent sections of Wilkes-Barre city left, but the problem is that your kids will have to go to Wilkes-Barre schools.

My recommendation would be to go across the river from Wilkes-Barre to Kingston, Forty Fort, or Swoyersville to the Wyoming Valley West School District or a little further up the river to West Pittston, Wyoming, or West Wyoming to the Wyoming Area School District.
I really haven't heard anything good about the Wilkes-Barre Area School District either. Supposedly Coughlin is the city's best high school, as it services students from the stable blue-collar city neighborhoods of Parsons and Miners Mills, the upscale suburbs of Laflin and Bear Creek, and Plains Township, which is a blend of all sorts of living environments, but even then I've seen some of the students coming out of there after school from my vantage point not far away at King's College, and many of them look to be, pardon my language, "hood rats." As Go Phillies said there are some good parts of Wilkes-Barre left, and housing prices are very generous in the city proper. If the Diamond City (Wilkes-Barre's nickname) appeals to you, then by all means go for it, but I'd probably send my children to either Holy Redeemer (Catholic) or Wyoming Seminary (Ivy-league private school).

Quote:
Originally Posted by drsmiley06 View Post
Mountaintop is the place I'd go. I went to Crestwood and I think it's one of the best districts around. Plus the homes are up there very very nice.
Crestwood is indeed very, very strong academically, but "very, very nice" is subjective in terms of the housing stock. If you like bland, soul-less cul-de-sacs to nowhere that were developed in the 1990s-present, then you'll love Mountain Top. Glen Summit is a quiet, tiny, historic little enclave that I've always liked, and the same can be said for Nuangola, but the rest of the townships that comprise Mountain Top leave a bland taste of suburbia in my mouth---sidewalk-less too because developers aren't required to design any of their communities with pedestrians in mind (because there's nothing for them to walk to anyways!).

Quote:
Originally Posted by go phillies View Post
The downside to Mountaintop, though, would be exactly what its name suggests...its at the top of a mountain, and winter weather (and Mountaintop gets more snow/ice than the valley) can make travelling down that mountain to Wilkes-Barre for work a bit dangerous. I don't know much else about Mountaintop other than the thought of coming down the hill on 309 in snow/ice scares me.
That's what sets Mountain Top apart from the Back Mountain. Both are transplant magnets with highly-regarded schools, conspicuous consumption, and a lot of newer construction, but the problem with Mountain Top is that when it snows you're isolated. There isn't much in the way of shopping/nightlife/dining/entertainment in Mountain Top, forcing you to risk your life down the skating rink that is Route 309, whereas the Back Mountain is almost self-contained now with all sorts of businesses (with more on the way). Mountain Top has about 20,000 residents; the Back Mountain has about 35,000. Combined they far exceed the population of Wilkes-Barre, which sits at around 41,000.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nmlmom View Post
We moved about 18 months ago from Philadelphia to Frederick, MD. I just heard that the hubby may be getting a promotion and we may have to head to Wilkes-Barre. I have no clue about NEPA!

We have a 6 year old son so we'd want something with a favorable school district. Can anyone direct me as to the areas that I should look into and those to stay away from?

Thanks in advance!
What sort of living environment would be preferable for you and your family? If you like the environment of newer homes in newer developments, then I'd recommend the Dallas School District in the Back Mountain to you. It is always neck-and-neck with Crestwood (Mountain Top) for being the best-performing school district in Luzerne County, but as I said above the Back Mountain ALSO has plenty of shopping/dining/nightlife whereas people in Mountain Top depend upon Wilkes-Barre for everything. Granted it's not a far drive from Dallas to Wilkes-Barre or from Mountain Top to Wilkes-Barre, but during the winter do you really want to be cooped up in the house all the time living in Mountain Top?

If you like walkable small towns with tree-lined streets and gracious older homes with character, then you'll love West Pittston, Forty Fort, or Kingston. West Pittston is part of the Wyoming Area School District, which is just behind Dallas and Crestwood in terms of academic performance. West Pittston has about 4,800 residents and is mostly flat with sidewalks, tree lawns, nice older homes, and a good blend of businesses, churches, services, etc. within a mile's walk of any home in the community. There is not a "downtown" in West Pittston, and this is because the town used to be the upscale suburb of the once-thriving city of Pittston, just across the river, that now has 7,000 residents and used to have 21,000. West Pittston was the home of a lot of coal barons (we were an anthracite coal mining hotbed in our industrial heyday) whereas a lot of the poorer miners lived in Pittston (hence the generally poorer quality of housing stock in the city proper of Pittston). Main Street in Pittston has seen MANY better days, but revenues from Mohegan Sun Casino in adjacent Plains Township resulted in the city receiving a downtown revitalization grant that has resulted in some absolutely beautiful work now being done---conversion of above-grade wiring underground, bright Victorian-era streetlights (complete with wreaths), brick crosswalks, freshly-poured sidewalks, landscaping, etc. Several new businesses have just opened (coffee house, antiques store) with a few more (Irish pub, Turkey Hill market, etc.) on the way. I think Pittston may be a very nice place to live in a few more years if the pace of revitalization continues (it used to be a DUMP!)

Kingston and Forty Fort are part of the Wyoming Valley West School District, which is an "average"-performing school district---better than Wilkes-Barre Area yet worse than the ritzier suburban schools. Combined Kingston and Forty Fort have about 18,000 residents, many of whom live on tree-lined streets with smaller older homes with a lot of historic character and charm. Crime is very low in Forty Fort, and is probably just slightly below-average in Kingston (the very high crime rate in adjacent Edwardsville often seeps in). Kingston/Forty Fort sit directly across the river from Downtown Wilkes-Barre and are very close to Route 309 (Cross-Valley Expressway) for easy access to the mall area in Wilkes-Barre Township. I think West Pittston is nicer, but then again with two armed muggings in the "Garden Village" so far in 2008 crime knows no boundaries anymore.
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Old 12-22-2008, 12:04 PM
 
Location: Dallas, PA
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Originally Posted by ScranBarre View Post
That's what sets Mountain Top apart from the Back Mountain. Both are transplant magnets with highly-regarded schools, conspicuous consumption, and a lot of newer construction, but the problem with Mountain Top is that when it snows you're isolated. There isn't much in the way of shopping/nightlife/dining/entertainment in Mountain Top, forcing you to risk your life down the skating rink that is Route 309, whereas the Back Mountain is almost self-contained now with all sorts of businesses (with more on the way). Mountain Top has about 20,000 residents; the Back Mountain has about 35,000. Combined they far exceed the population of Wilkes-Barre, which sits at around 41,000.
I'm confused Where I live, Dallas...that's Back Mountain, right? So, where is Mountain Top? When ya'll are talking about "coming down 309 from Mountain Top" you don't mean from the Dallas area, but some area on a different part of 309, right?
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Old 12-22-2008, 12:10 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,617 posts, read 77,614,858 times
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Originally Posted by EnyaGirl View Post
I'm confused Where I live, Dallas...that's Back Mountain, right? So, where is Mountain Top? When ya'll are talking about "coming down 309 from Mountain Top" you don't mean from the Dallas area, but some area on a different part of 309, right?
Route 309 refers to the highway that runs through Dallas/Shavertown/Trucksville that you're probably familiar with, the Cross-Valley Expressway, AND the road that juts through the community of Mountain Top, which is midway between Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton. My mother's accident in September was on Route 309 in Mountain Top, not the Back Mountain.

Want to know something even more confusing? Mountain Top has its own zip code, its own "Welcome Wagon" group for transplants, and its own weekly newspaper, but there is no such place as "Mountain Top." Several large, rural (now suburban I guess) townships collectively referred to themselves as "Mountain Top" for years, and now the name stuck after being picked up on by realtors. When people say "I live in Mountain Top," they really do not. They live in Fairview Township, Wright Township, Rice Township, Dorrance Township, Slocum Township, or Dennison Township. Some may even live in Penn Lake Park or Nuangola. There's too many communities around here! Consolidation, anyone?

Enya, you live in Dallas Township, which is separate from Dallas. You have a board of supervisors. Dallas has a mayor/council government. Dallas Township has about six times the population of Dallas proper. Confused even MORE yet?
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Old 12-22-2008, 12:11 PM
 
Location: NE PA
7,931 posts, read 15,821,616 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EnyaGirl View Post
I'm confused Where I live, Dallas...that's Back Mountain, right? So, where is Mountain Top? When ya'll are talking about "coming down 309 from Mountain Top" you don't mean from the Dallas area, but some area on a different part of 309, right?
Yes...on the opposite side of the valley. If you get off of I-81 at Blackman St, but go up the mountain rather than into Wilkes-Barre.
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