Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
For what it's worth, my husband graduated from Pocono Mountain in 1989. His graduating class had about 450 (and I thought that was big LOL). My in-laws still live in the district.
From my IL's neighbors who have children attending Pocono Mountain East, they have noticed a slow but steady decline in that school. They are going to stick it out because their youngest is already in tenth grade, but said to me that they would move if they had an elementary student in the district. The West is only worse.
If it were me and my family, I'd avoid that district altogether. Realize too that these areas of rapid growth cannot keep place with the influx of new students, so whatever the taxes are now, they are going to increase astronomically. My in-laws pay a huge tax bill now, whereas 15 yrs ago it was quite reasonable.
I taught there in the tobyhanna area and would just stay away from the district all together as a parent and an educator. Personal opinion though, everyone looks for different qualities in different school. The teacher/student ratio was way too high in my opinion. I have much to say but nothing positive so I'll just leave it at that. Ask many questions and think long and hard before making a decision - good luck
The School system is what both the parents and students make of it. I'm tired of hearing about transplants. If people want to get away from possible airplanes flying into buildings in their town then how can anyone refuse them that right. All teachers go through the same training and all, I believe have the best intentions of the kids in place. It is actually up to both parents and students to become and STAY involved with the schools. As far as gangs they are more like little wanna be hoodlums. Nothing a good swift kick in the a#@ won't cure. If everyone would look out for their own and maybe one of their neighbors then maybe that would make up for the students who are not being looked out for! Just a thought as we DO have the power to take control of what goes on in our schools.
If I were you, I would reconsider CEC. For one thing the better schools in PMSD are Barrett, Pocono Elementary (Tannersville) and Swiftwater Elementary. You also must keep in mind that if your children go to CEC, they will go to Pocono Mt. West. Believe the stories you have heard. The school is bad and there are a lot of bad seeds. Many of these kids don't even belong here. Their aunts and uncles own or rent homes here, and the whole gang goes to school up here. My daughter is at PM East High and in her last year. Sadly I have to admit, I'm glad it's her last year, because they are beginning to have their problems as well. Fights in the school and then parents bringing their own possey with them to beat on each other.
Thanks for everyones input.
We did move back to Moosic and have our kids in a great affordable private school.It took 7 months of double morg.payments but finially we were able to rent the Pocono Farms house.Well worth it to be out of that area.
Thanks again
As far as gangs they are more like little wanna be hoodlums.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pocono Rick
As far as gangs they are more like little wanna be hoodlums. Nothing a good swift kick in the a#@ won't cure. If everyone would look out for their own and maybe one of their neighbors then maybe that would make up for the students who are not being looked out for! Just a thought as we DO have the power to take control of what goes on in our schools.
As much as I'd like to agree with you, you are definitely wrong about that. There was a fight between 2 kids (girl and boy). When that ended up in a fist fight, both families showed up with "BANDANAS". I know this to be a fact as I know alot of teachers at the high school. This was kept out of the papers, but there are definitely gangs around, and not wanna-be's. So glad my daughter is graduating in 2008.
[FONT=Verdana]In ref to this post or for anyone else looking to move to the Pocono mountain area. I would not recommend it for a professional with a degree. If you are looking for cheap housing and thinking of commuting back to the city or to NJ I would not recommend this for many reasons. 1. Reason would be the traffic, it use to take me 2 to 3 hours to get to my job in NJ and just as long coming home due to traffic. (It was even worse on a holiday and Friday which tool as much as 4 hour getting home). There are buses that go to the city for a hefty price and with the increase in gas so comes the increase in fare. I paid in April 08 $52 for a round trip ticket but when I was done I have to wait an hour for the bus to take me back home. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]2. Reason[/FONT][FONT=Verdana] this side of town is very prejudice towards newcomers especially from NY and NJ and will not hesitate to show you and even worse towards minorities. If you want to find out just how prejudice they are just read their local newspaper Pocono Record. They also make it very hard for you to own a business and will over charge you at a ridiculous rate for leases and land or may not sell or rent to you at all. Also if they feel as though you are causing a problem they will find a way to make sure that your business does not succeed with there overnight laws and their judge who’s the lawyer, who knows the local doctor, who moonlights as the sheriff, who owns the property next to yours. 3. Reason Lack of employment, there are no decent paying jobs in this area, and if there are you won’t get it because you won’t know about it. The locals will recommend other locals and they will get the job or the current person will have to die before they are removed from that position. The highest I’ve seen them pay based on others and my own experience in the area is half what I’ve made in the city and Jersey and that is only because I got into Sanofi Pasteur (good luck with that the turn around is horrible). 4. Reason the weather is horrible if you have children be prepared to have a minimum of 10-20 snow day closings a year on top of school vacation and breaks. This might not work well for you if you work out of state. Out of state employees can’t understand why you are complaining of 3-4 feet of snow when they have none at all and too many calls outs may cost you your job (just a thought). 5. Reason if you’re from NJ as I am and are use to a certain standard of childcare and schooling you will be very disappointed. The schools are nice on the outside but in chaos on the inside. Even the worst area schools in NJ are better then the schools in Pocono Mountain and anyone who tells you different is a native or from an area in NY where the schools are overcrowded and are happy to have their child is such a nice looking school. The only school that has reached any high marks in the area is the Pocono Mountain Charter school (owned by New Yorkers) which has been recognized for their outstanding school four years in a row but because of the corrupt school district and local newspaper they are trying to close the school down because it is minority owned and they feel as though they are taking away money from the Pocono Mountain Schools. I’ve also been told by parents that if you have a child that is in special Ed this school teaches them and gets them on grade level so that they can go back into mainstream with other students. The PMSD (Pocono Mountain School District) hates this because if these children were in their school they would receive double the funds for special Ed students. They charge the charter school with taking money out of the district. I would recommend visiting the charter school everyone knows that charter school books are open and I found no fault with them misusing funds as the Pocono Records articles stated in fact nor did the school district after the four years of false allegations but not once did they print a retraction and they wont because it is to keep parents from sending there children to the school so the school can close. The school has won academic awards 4 years in a row PMS have not won any and are constantly being reprimanded. I would recommend if you want to just move to PA to move to the 78 side of town the schools are much better, the communities are much better, the hospitals are much better, the weather difference is a total 360, and it is very accessible to all the major highways and trains for commuters. This is what my husband and I did after five years in the mountain and we are so happy we did. He still commutes into Jersey\NY from 78 and gets their in half the time as it use to take him. I work local and found a great paying job in Info Tech (not as much as NY and NJ but enough to provide for my family and still stay close enough home to care for my kids.) If you are still not convinced good luck to you on your move!!![/FONT]
Last edited by silverfish1; 05-30-2008 at 07:20 PM..
Reason: errors
I have been a student in the Pocono Mountain West School District for 4-5 years now. I have been in both the Clear Run Intermediate School, Pocono Mountain West Junior Highschool, and the Pocono Mountain Highschool. I also have two siblings who graduated at this school, and a younger sibling who attended Clear Run Elementary School, and is moving up to the middle school I attended previously.
As a whole, I would say the elementary schools are GREAT! But... I am very scared about my brother entering into the middle school, because I am aware of that being when fights start in this school district. I have witnessed several 6th-7th grade fights at the middle school; way too young for being so violent. Entering into the high school isn't much better, in fact it's much worse. Fire crackers are thrown in the hallways, fights break out often, kids have brought weapons to school, and I myself have witnessed in school drug deals. Transportation is terrible as well. When I stay after to attend volunteer programs, Speech and Debate, Odyssy of the Mind, ect, they drop me off on Long Pond road (you would know how busy that street can get around time people are getting home from work) and they have me walk the full hour home, down a steep hill, during any weather conditions. In fact, my sister was hit by a car last year, upon being let off the bus. The school took no responsibility for it. I am a severe asthmatic, and the bitter air gives me asthma attacks. The bus we had had broken heat, and the windows didn't all close, so severe times I had to be sent home the moment I even got into the school because of the buses poor conditions.
This school is also on second corrective action and are not yet passing PSSA tests adequately. In all honesty, my parents have been trying desperately to het me out of this district. My dad even tried convinving me to enroll in the PA Online schooling, but I immediately turned the idea down, considering that I don't enjoy being locked away in a house all day and I am very concerned about keeping my after school activities (I'm shooting for Ivy League )
Well, I hope I was of some help, if you want any first hand knowledge of the schools, feel free to ask, otherwise, good luck!
I went to POCONO MOUNTAIN (yeah, it does drive us crazy when it's referred to as Mount Pocono but I graduated before they were split into East and West. I would have gone to what is now EAST. I didn't have problems at all, but I didn't like the big class sizes. I graduated with nearly 1000 others and would have much rather gone to a smaller school. This is only my opinion of course. Now as an adult with children, I moved farther north in order to avoid any of the school districts down there for my kids. Stroudsburg and Pleasant Valley always seem to get slightly better reports as far as the safety goes. I did work at the police department for some time, and I wouldn't want to go to either high school (PME or PMW) anymore after having read some of the reports.
Elementary schools, of course, are a different story. I went to the Tannersville Learning Center (it has since burned down) and Pocono Elementary Center - both of which I can say were great schools and molded my life! I remember the names of nearly all of my teachers, and what a great time I had growing up. They do say after all that everything you need to know you learned in kindergarten
My opinion is based on three friends who have children in the school and they do not have any major complaints, thus far.
MOOSIC--advanced---hahhahaahhah. Moosic is the most boring town to live in, I don't know about their schools, but the town is blah.
No schools are perfect, but if you are an involved parent, you can make a difference.
How can someone who lives in the Poconos say that Moosic is "the most boring town to live in?" Not knocking the Poconos, but I think I can safely say that there is more to do in and around Moosic than there would be living in the middle of the Poconos....
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Moved to Moosic!!
)
but I graduated before they were split into East and West. I would have gone to what is now EAST. I didn't have problems at all, but I didn't like the big class sizes. I graduated with nearly 1000 others and would have much rather gone to a smaller school. This is only my opinion of course. Now as an adult with children, I moved farther north in order to avoid any of the school districts down there for my kids. Stroudsburg and Pleasant Valley always seem to get slightly better reports as far as the safety goes. I did work at the police department for some time, and I wouldn't want to go to either high school (PME or PMW) anymore after having read some of the reports. 
