FBI Probe: Pittston Area Superintendent Faces Corruption Charges (Wilkes-Barre, Laflin: to buy, luxury)

[Lehigh Valley Native]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

As a recent alumnus of Pittston Area, an upper-middle-class public school district

I am pretty sure that Upper Middle Class is defined as a median household income around 100,000.00
I am also fairly confident that 100,000.00 is not the median income for Pittston area.
In all likelihood, this area is hard pressed to have any "real" upper middle class school district.

[Lehigh Valley Native]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

It was obvious to me that for all of the parking lots at the high school to be replete with Lexuses, BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, etc. that there had to be SOME people with "creative earnings," as my own parents earn twice our region's median household income combined and can't afford half of the luxuries I saw lower-earning faculty, administrators, maintenance staff, support staff, etc. driving around in or attired in.

This is why people have a hard time taking what you write seriously.

btw, what is Pittstons median household income?

[DE_NePA]

Star1234 - You lack perspective. The fact that 70% of the high school students are driving cars means you live in an affluent area.

[cowboyxjon]

Does affluence (or lack of affluence) really matter in this situation? I know wealth envy is 'in' right now, but the alleged crimes could happen in any school district, in my opinion. It will be interesting to see what kind of details are uncovered.

[The Commish]

Take a look at the median household incomes for towns that comprise PASD (Courtesy of ever-useful City-Data!)

Pittston Twp: $51,172
Hughestown: $51,681
Jenkins Twp: $48,404
Yatesville: $57,473
Dupont: $40,004
Pittston: $33,550
Duryea: $39,868
Avoca: $43,292

Our standard of living is lower than other areas, but most put upper-middle class as "high 5 figures to low 6 figures." I don't think even the highest-earning PASD town, Yatesville, reaches that. And taken as a whole, the median of *all* the towns isn't even close to high 5 figures.

Originally Posted by cowboyxjon

Does affluence (or lack of affluence) really matter in this situation? I know wealth envy is 'in' right now, but the alleged crimes could happen in any school district, in my opinion. It will be interesting to see what kind of details are uncovered.

It relates to the subject of this thread, since the original poster (mis)characterized Pittston Area School District in a somewhat dubious manner, and since the original poster framed the debate around the school's affluence (from the teachers and administrators to its students).

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by Lehigh Valley Native

I am pretty sure that Upper Middle Class is defined as a median household income around 100,000.00
I am also fairly confident that 100,000.00 is not the median income for Pittston area.
In all likelihood, this area is hard pressed to have any "real" upper middle class school district.

No....a MEDIAN income around $100,000 would definitely be upper class. For example, Lower Merion Township in the Main Line area of the Philly suburbs has a median income of $105,000, and that area is clearly upper class. I would think a median income in the $50,000+ range would label an area as upper middle class.

School districts such as Abington Heights, Crestwood, and Dallas are definitely upper middle class....they are definitely not working class blue collar areas, though parts of those districts may have some working class residents.

[The Commish]

I would defintely agree that Abington SD is solidly upper-middle.

The median incomes are huge.

Originally Posted by go phillies

No....a MEDIAN income around $100,000 would definitely be upper class. For example, Lower Merion Township in the Main Line area of the Philly suburbs has a median income of $105,000, and that area is clearly upper class. I would think a median income in the $50,000+ range would label an area as upper middle class.

Sociologists would disagree with you.

[Jessie0657]

Originally Posted by star1234

As a student who has to look at the teacher cars...i never see "all of the parking lots at the high school to be replete with Lexus's, BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, etc."
Admit it, that was an exaggeration.
As far as an upper middle class school-sure, but more then 70 % of students, like myself, are driving very old cars.
Also, i live in Duryea in a very quaint house as do all of my friends.

As a graduate of PAHS (06) i remember seeing at least more then half of the parking student parking lot full of "mommy and daddy bought em'" cars, and i didn't even drive!

and at least more the half the student population lived in the neighboring developments. So 70% is high if you think about it.

[The Bad Guy]

This nonsense has gone on too long around NEPA.

The quality of education has become so watered down from districts hiring teachers based on nepotism and who knows who instead of keeping the good teachers in the area.

Hopefully this hits a lot more districts so they are forced to do things on the up and up. There needs to be a hiring process put in place for every district in the area where qualified applicants are at least given a chance to interview for an open position.

[returningtonepa???]

no matter what the class or income is,because of nepotism,school children here are getting a substandard education----based on what i have been seeing with the students that i come into contact with weekly-----spelling,sentence structure,punctuation is poor at best and this is among 12 year olds
i have worked with low income students in the south and they did much better----what is happening here?
a billion years ago,i received an excellent education in this area--i cannot fathom why things have downslided