Pittston School District - Advice Please!! (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre: middle-class, apartment complex, houses)

[daisy37]

Hello! I am currently looking at a house in the Pittston Area School District but I want to learn more about the district. Yes, I have looked up the PSSA test scores, spending per pupil, class size etc. but that doesn't give a whole story of a school district. I want to know the opinion of people who have either gone to the district or have kids in the district. Is it inclusive to all students (special ed. as well as gifted)? Is there a district wide reading program? I don't really like the idea of different centers (kindergarten, primary, intermediate, middle, high school) versus neighborhood schools but how do you find the centers? I think that is a lot of transition for students but in experience has anyone's kid found it difficult?

Thanks for any opinions/advice you can give. I want to hear from real people versus just seeing the numbers.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by daisy37

Hello! I am currently looking at a house in the Pittston Area School District but I want to learn more about the district. Yes, I have looked up the PSSA test scores, spending per pupil, class size etc. but that doesn't give a whole story of a school district. I want to know the opinion of people who have either gone to the district or have kids in the district. Is it inclusive to all students (special ed. as well as gifted)? Is there a district wide reading program? I don't really like the idea of different centers (kindergarten, primary, intermediate, middle, high school) versus neighborhood schools but how do you find the centers? I think that is a lot of transition for students but in experience has anyone's kid found it difficult?

Thanks for any opinions/advice you can give. I want to hear from real people versus just seeing the numbers.

I graduated from Pittston Area High School in 2005, and I think I turned out just fine. There was a major overemphasis in our school district placed upon the football team, but you'll notice that in just about any local community. The arts/cultural offerings at Pittston Area are, sadly, very weak and are poorly-supported by the community. The school had an outstanding jazz band and chorus when I was there two years ago, and I'd assume the same could be said today.

The legendary music teacher, choral director, and band assistant director at the high school, Mr. Curtis Roberts, passed away unexpectedly when I was a senior, and he left a gaping void in the district. I can still recall walking in that day, learning the news of his passing in his home earlier that same morning, and seeing tears all throughout the hallways from the lives he touched. Then again, tragedy helped to showcase the BEST asset our school has to offer---just how close-knit we are as a community. His widow was the chairwoman of the science department and a very gifted chemistry teacher, Mrs. Anne Marie Roberts, and the way her students, colleagues, and neighbors banded together to offer her support was incredible. I drove a group of friends to her husband's viewing relatively early, and the massive parking lot of the funeral home was already near capacity with a line extending out the door of the facility. His death in 2005 heralded the end of an era at the school district, and I can only hope that current band director Adam Burdett has begun to fill his void.

For as much as the school dropped to its knees to worship the football jocks, I still felt very blessed to have been a member of so many clubs and organizations. During my Junior year I was president of our FBLA and helped raise over $1,000 for Habitat for Humanity, which was quite a feat for our intimate club of about 18 members. I enjoyed cleaning litter with the school's very active Key Club. We also had a Leo Club, which was like a high school version of the Lions Club, as well as a chess club (which I've heard has since disbanded), health/science careers club, International Cultural Experiences (ICE) club (which held semi-annual foreign food festivals and ethnic Christmas carols at a local nursing home), a ski society, advanced math club, and I was one of a few dozen students who helped to create a new species of tomato in a plant genetics project. Our school had an awesome drama club, but the community at-large neglected it in favor of attending high school football games. We also had an art club that decorated downtown business windows, a communications club that broadcasted the morning school news reports on television, a journalism club (that my sister currently heads) that produces the school newspaper, a Stand Tall Club (like our school's hybrid version of the D.A.R.E. and SADD programs),and a technology club that designed an award-winning web site for a downtown business. There was also a bowling club, woodworking club, highly-performing Science Olympiad team, and the National Honor Society, amongst other organizations. Your child (children?) will definitely have plenty of extracirriculars available at their disposal.

In addition to the the clubs, we also had (have?) the following athletic programs:

Baseball
Basketball (Boys/Girls)
Cheerleading
Cross Country
Field Hockey
Football
Golf
Ice Hockey
Soccer
Softball
Swimming
Tennis
Track & Field (Boys/Girls)
Volleyball
Wrestling


The last I heard there were also attempts to get an ultimate frisbee team started, as well as a badminton team.

Now that the extra-cirriculars are aside (at least those which I can remember), I'll get into the academics:

Our school had offered the following Advanced Placement (AP) courses when I graduated (I wished there were more!):

American History
American Literature
Calculus
Chemistry

I only took the first two that were listed and scored a 3 out of 5 on each. When I was enrolled, our now-retired American History AP teacher left a lot to be desired, but I've heard the new teacher (in his first year) is much more pro-active. The American Literature teacher, Mr. Robert Zbylicki, was very good in my opinion. Mrs. Anne Marie Roberts was the AP Chemistry teacher when I attended, and she was without a doubt one of the best educators in the state (I have very high standards too). She would routinely meet after school, on weekends, during her free periods, lunches, etc. to help her students in any way she could. Being an aspiring CPA I only took Honors Chemistry II with her, and even though her course was as challenging as a college course, I sailed through my Genetics class at King's College with an upper-90s average thanks to this woman. I'm unsure who has taken over the Chemistry program, but I can GUARANTEE it will be a number of years until they can rival the dedication that Mrs. Roberts had to her profession (yes, green-eyed monster teacher-bashers of NEPA, I said PROFESSION). Finally, I've heard mixed reviews of the woman who taught AP Calculus. I had this same woman for Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus, and while I wasn't personally impressed others loved her.

The high school had several basic "tracks" that a student could puruse. If a high enough GPA was maintained, one could enroll in the honors program (the path I took that I felt prepared me QUITE well for college). There was also the basic academic track (which a good 2/3 of the school took), a business-related cirriculum, and a vo-tech cirriculum, in which students would take a few courses at the high school and then be bused to a vocational training school near Wilkes-Barre.

As far as the faculty is concerned, I can honestly say that 90% of the teachers I had were very dedicated to their careers and to their students, with the other 10% just being political hacks who showed up simply to earn enough money to buy a Lexus a Mercedes-Benz. A lot of teachers retired over the past 2-3 years, leaving a lot of newbies in their wake. Whether you want to view an influx of teachers in their 20s as bringing fresh ideas to the forefront or not having enough experience to live up to your standards is entirely up to you, but I know that a few of them, including my sister, are already very highly-regarded amongst their colleagues and students.

Thankfully, the newer football coach (who also lives in my subdivision) has only brought about three or four victories to the football team over the past two years, and I've heard that this has resulted in a shift in attention away from the football team and towards those who participate in other sports, work just as hard, and never received any recognition. The school was outdated structurally when I attended, but I've heard that last year's renovations did wonders to its interior aesthetics (I have yet to see them, as I don't want people to think I'm some weird 21-year-old who misses high school! LOL!)

Security was VERY lax when I attended; students were given car keys to their teachers' vehicles and allowed to go in and out of the building to retrieve items for them. I saw the secretary in the main office buzz someone in at one point without even glancing at the monitor, which made me feel rather unsafe. I hope very much that given the increasing violence in high schools across the nation Pittston Area has stepped up security since I graduated in 2005. Too many in this town have the "it can't happen here; this is Mayberry" mentality, which is why I sadly won't have much sympathy if a tragedy finally DOES occur.

As far as the elementary schools are concerned, I've heard nothing but good things, but a lot of restructuring has occurred since I've been through them, so I truly can't comment. A new school was built just for 1st- and 2nd-graders a few years ago, and an old building downtown was converted from an elementary school into an apartment complex. The Greater Pittston area is NOT very walkable due to its suburban nature, but developers have compensated for this by building a lot of upper-middle-class subdivisions adjacent to the schools. The high school has received an influx of students this year due to last year's closure of Seton Catholic High School, but I've heard that overcrowding isn't an issue.

If you have ANY concerns at all about moving to the Pittston Area, please feel free to let me know. I was born and raised here, so I'm probably a good resource to consult. One thing I WILL warn you about though is that school taxes in our district are amongst the highest in the region. In the case of Pittston Township, which has no community taxes, this isn't so bad, but in the case of Pittston City or Dupont, both of which also have very high community taxes, this could be a burden.

[daisy37]

Scranton-Wilkes - Thanks for all the info. I have read many posts by you when we were first thinking of moving back to PA. In fact, you helped my husband get his job which allowed us to make the move. You had written a list of local companies in the area - I went through the list and looked at the companies websites and found job postings -and here we are! So a big Thank You for that.

My daughter is actually only 18 months right now, so short term I'm more concerned about the elementary schools but it's good to hear info. about the highs school too.

Thanks!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by daisy37

Scranton-Wilkes - Thanks for all the info. I have read many posts by you when we were first thinking of moving back to PA. In fact, you helped my husband get his job which allowed us to make the move. You had written a list of local companies in the area - I went through the list and looked at the companies websites and found job postings -and here we are! So a big Thank You for that.

My daughter is actually only 18 months right now, so short term I'm more concerned about the elementary schools but it's good to hear info. about the highs school too.

Thanks!

You're quite welcome, and "bienvenidos" in advance to NEPA! (I just thought I'd throw a warm Spanish greeting in there to rile everyone up! LOL!)

I was at the Ben Franklin Kindergarten Center in Dupont just a few years ago while in our high school's Key Club to assist with their end-of-the-year "Fun Day," and from what I saw the children seemed to be rather happy, and the facility still appeared to be in the same immaculate shape as it was in when I moved through its corridors back in the early-1990s. There's a nice playground behind the school, and the surrounding neighborhood is very tranquil.

I have yet to venture inside the new Primary Center (1st and 2nd Grade) in Hughestown, but from our hilltop subdivision we can look straight across to the glow of its parking lot lights at night. My parents go walking over at that school's walking path, and they enjoy it very much. The views from up there are stunning---Hughestown sits at a relatively high elevation, and you can see right across the Susquehanna River to the mountains, including Campbell's Ledge. Since the school is only a few years old, all of the facilities are brand-spanking new. In fact, I can still remember my father teaching me how to drive around the school's parking lot when it was still under construction. The recreational areas behind the school are great, and a new upscale subdivision, Quail Hill, sits perched overlooking the school. Homes in Quail Hill have been selling quite slowly though, as I think they're a tad overpriced.

On the other side of Hughestown is the Martin L. Mattei educational campus, which houses the intermediate center (Grades 3-5) and the adjacent middle school (Grades 6-8). The campus looks like a drab 1970s architectural wasteland from the exterior, but both schools have undergone great renovations on the interior over the years. The schools are separated by a long corridor between the cafeteria of the middle school and the gymnasium of the intermediate center, so there's no worries of the 8th-graders bullying the 3rd-graders. There is a housing development adjacent to this campus as well, known as Maple View, but this subdivision is more well-established, with most homes built in the 1980s. There's also a very impressive mansion that is a must-see along New Street just below the campus and over the Pittston city border.

Finally, the high school is in Yatesville and is surrounded by two massive upscale subdivisions known as Willow View and Highland Hills. Highland Hills is split into an older half (nearest to the high school) with typical middle-class bi-level and ranch homes built generally in the 1970s, while the other half of the neighborhood is newer and much more posh, with some homes ranging in value up into the high-six-figures. Willow View is nearly at full build-out (I think there's still one lot remaining). In general the higher up the hillside you go here, the more extravagant the homes get (including another posh mansion with large gates at the end of Osborne Drive). The high school has a great track for running (I find it to be much easier on my joints when I go running as opposed to running in the streets), a modern athletic center/weight room, and a lot of open space around the school.