Can Anyone Provide Information To Me About The North Pocono School Dist. (Scranton: transplants)

[deeds]

We Have Kids 11, 13......is This A Desirable School District?........thank You

[SteelCityRising]

Check your other thread for a reply. Yes, the North Pocono School District is indeed a very sought-after public school district. In fact, it's often in contention with Abington Heights (hoighty-toighty Scranton suburban school disrict) for having the best overall performances on SATs and state standardized tests. There's been a divisive issue in the town lately---whether or not a new high school is necessary. Most locals are against the potential for an increase in their property taxes to pay for the new school, but I think with all of the newer subdivisions either underway or in consideration within the school district points to a potentially higher enrollment in the future that would necessitate a new, larger high school.

[I LOVE PA!]

The new HS is definitely on it's way, it seems like many are unhappy about it, but most of the unhappy people are the locals, they just don't want to pay for a school that might be needed because too many NY and NJ people are moving in.
I had a friend who moved into the Abington Heights school Dsitrict and she sums up why their SAT scores are so good, along with State Standardized tests...all testing is done in the same format as the state tests, they prepare extensively for these tests, more than the other school districts.

[covenant77]

I student-taught at North Pocono in 1999, and then substituted there until 2003. I can vouch that a student will receive a decent education, with many elective opportunities and qualified teachers, especially for Lackawanna County. What is disturbing, as unfortunately indicated indirectly by the previous poster's attitude, is the socio-economic dichotomy within the district.
Some of the "locals" are indeed separated financially from the mysterious influx of outsiders, but this did not manfiest itself in any tension that I obeserved while there. There were several hyper-vocal minorities that tried to use the race card to escape being held accountable, but firmness quashes these delusional people.
As to "the locals" not liking the new high school: what is wrong with that? The "locals" have lived there longer than the transient ersatz-rural loving NY and NJ folk coming in. This is what has ruined the Poconos in general: urban types impressing their (lack of decent) values upon an area that is slower-paced than what they are used to. The "locals" are perceived, by some ruinous urban standard as "backward," as though they need to be redeemed by the glorious urbanites. This is fallacious reasoning, not just existing in NEPA, but country-wide by the proliferation of a perceived urban culture. Thus, an area loses its "backward" or rural character. as this area might. I am not exalting ignorance, but do not deem "progress" in the form of outsiders to bre salubrious for the area either.

[SteelCityRising]

Covenant,

While I agree with the majority of what you say, that still doesn't mean that bracing for increasing enrollments "won't be necessary", which is the argument many North Pocono natives possess and that I take issue with. They may have their eyes closed to Harmony Hills, Stonefield Estates, Windsor Hill, Independence Ridge, Beechwood Hill, and all of the other subdivisions sprouting up in their countryside, but I am not. Regardless of whether these new families hail from NJ or Timbuktu doesn't make the need for a new school any less pressing of an issue, especially if these housing developers continue to eat away at the beautiful North Pocono countryside as quickly as they have been while township officials turn their backs, seeing nothing but the instant property tax revenue influx that is associated with a housing boom. As we saw in Monroe County, the "rubber-stamping" of housing development after housing development eventually caught up with each township, as property taxes had to soar to build new schools, enlarge police departments, build and maintain more public infrastructure, etc.

If the people of North Pocono truly want to say "NO" to the new high school, as I've seen on small signs dotting front lawns, then why don't they take their beef to where it belongs---greedy housing developers and the township supervisors who have allowed them to begin to turn the once-rural North Pocono area into what will inevitably become the next suburban extension of Monroe County? I take issues with my fellow "locals" because instead of nipping this growing problem of urban sprawl in the bud at the TOP, they instead decide to take out their frustrations on the innocent NY/NJ transplants themselves by using them as the scapegoats for Moscow's transition from country hamlet into being dominated by the planned community of Harmony Hills. Folks, if there weren't plentiful places for the NY/NJ transplants to move to, then they wouldn't be coming here, would they? When was the last time a meeting at the municipal building in Roaring Brook Township or Covington Township was filled to capacity with residents decrying urban sprawl? Hasn't happened? I didn't think so. At least I take the initiative to kvetch about what sprawl is doing to my hometown of
Pittston Township at our monthly meetings, even if my rants are in empty meeting rooms and fall upon deaf ears that hear nothing but the "ka-ching" from every new McMansion or strip mall that springs up. What are people in Greater Moscow doing to curtail sprawl and/or encourage growth boundaries?

Let's face it. It won't be too many more years before Wal-Mart sets its eyes on an open tract of land near the new Shop-Rite Supermarket in Daleville, at which point you'll see smaller chain stores creeping up to catch the traffic that "Wally World" inevitably creates. THIS is why I laugh at the locals in North Pocono when they whine about "not needing a new high school." With a growing population and increasing enrollments, a new school will become a necessity unless more of you get off of your lazy rear-ends and demand an END to the ominous threat of urban sprawl before it hits North Pocono like a ton of bricks (just like it hit Monroe County out of nowhere!) Why, then, aren't the natives storming their supervisors' offices demanding to know when the last time they formed comprehensive REGIONAL plans was? When was the last time they adopted growth boundaries and open space designations? When was the last time they stopped to consider whether each new household's financial benefit via property taxes was still enough to outweigh the added burden of increasing police staffing, paid fire/EMS personnel, new schools, wider roadways, etc.? If none of you are asking these important questions from those who you elected to represent YOU, then quit your whining about the transplants! Now, if people made a concerted effort to stop sprawl and it was allowed to overtake North Pocono anyways due to a corrupt government, then I WOULD be empathetic with you all, as this same tragedy has been occuring with me as the "lone renegade cowboy" in my blossoming suburb. If not, then how can anyone feel sympathetic to a population that idly sat by while their world crashed down around them? In any event, what does begrudging the "rich New Yahkers" and making them feel unwelcome do to help their situation other than continuing to create tensions?

[I LOVE PA!]

Amen! And all of the land that is being developed on was a local who sold it to a developer. They never get blamed for their actions though!