Dickson Pa........How are the schools and surrounding area........ (Scranton: crime, houses)

[deeds]

Wondering how nice this area is.....how are the schools? or are there areas near there that are nice and have good schools - highschool preferably

[Mr Yuk]

Dickson City is a good place to live. It looks pretty much like every other town in the valley, mostly simple older homes, with some bigger, nicer older homes along Main St, with some new subdivisions here and there. Crime is low, taxes are low, Mid-Valley schools are good, they may not have the reputation of Abington Heights or North Pocono, but your kids will get just as good of an education at MV, and the schools are safe. Plus, Dickson City is home to the area's biggest shopping area, and is convenient to Scranton.

[ConfusingRotary]

I found Dickson City to be incredibly depressing, and the neighbours were hit or miss. Some were really friendly, some were really nosey, and some were just obnoxiously loud and vulgar. The problem is that houses in DC are pretty much right on top of each other, so you will end up hearing much of your neighbour's business.

The houses are miner looking homes for the most part, and many are stuck in the 1950s/60s.. unfortunately, not in an upkept state.

As far as convenience to Scranton.. yes and no. It depends what time of day you go, but traffic gets pretty bad. I used to have to go to the bank (BOA on Linden St) occasionally, lived about 5 miles away, and it took me an hour a few times. That should be 10 minutes down, 10 minutes back, but it never is.

Main St is a mess, especially around Dunkin' Donuts, with traffic jams every weekend. I can't even imagine it around the holiday season. Ugh.

That said, DC is not for me, but maybe you will like it. If you've driven around and you don't find yourself wanting to jump off a bridge, maybe you should give it a shot.

[mike02]

Originally Posted by go phillies

Dickson City is a good place to live. It looks pretty much like every other town in the valley, mostly simple older homes, with some bigger, nicer older homes along Main St, with some new subdivisions here and there. Crime is low, taxes are low, Mid-Valley schools are good, they may not have the reputation of Abington Heights or North Pocono, but your kids will get just as good of an education at MV, and the schools are safe. Plus, Dickson City is home to the area's biggest shopping area, and is convenient to Scranton.

Please don't be misled by this response. Mid Valley is a terrible school district, thanks to their greedy school board and overall poor attitude of the teachers and students. I would choose Scranton City schools over Mid Valley any day. Even mediocre Valley View (bordering neighbor) is a better choice. On the other hand, Dickson City/Throop/Olyphant are not bad communities to live in. There are some nice neighborhoods but I would completely avoid the schools. In Lackawanna County, the best schools with strict academic guidelines, fairness, motivational attitudes of the teachers and students, academic/extra-curricular opportunities, and excellent resources for the college selection/admissions process would be North Pocono and Abington Heights. You can also have a similar experience, but possibly less resources, at Lakeland, Old Forge, Dunmore, and Lackawanna Trail. I can't speak for Scranton schools, but from what I heard, they are the best in comparison to cities of similar size. The ones to avoid would be Mid Valley, Valley View, and Carbondale. This is NOT an argument of test scores or family income. I'm giving you these reasons from people I know who work at these schools or attended them and they can tell you flat out what their experiences were with these school systems. It's ashame that the taxes in the Abington Heights SD are going up. Believe me, they don't just spend spend spend. They are pretty conservative on spending. Also, Abington has had an excellent reputation for most of its history. This dates back before the increase in affluence of the population. Schools that are making great progress would be schools like Lackawanna Trail and Lakeland. There is NO progress at Valley View or Mid Valley unless they replace their administration and a lot of their faculty. sorry.