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Nothing but white trash, gang violence, bad schools, oh and did I mention no police. Run, run as fast as you can. There are still affordable homes in NJ. If you must move to this God awful place I suggest looking in Clarks Summit. The Poconos is not even fit for wild life.
OMG--go to poconorecord.com and read the crime reports everyday before you consider either burg. my mom lives in stroudsburg and i have recently moved to a community in bushkill but is actually pike county. that would only mean something positive if i had school aged children. the gang violence is out of control in most communities and east burg. east burg is also a college town. the worst communities are pine ridge (crime ridge) lake of the pines (lake of the shines) horrendous school systems in monroe county. the crime has spread all the way out to effort, pa which you wouldn't think to drive through there. and the new yorkers cannot leave their city mentality behind they still threaten to run you down in shopping center parking lots and are lousy drivers in general. this is a horrible place to visit and not fit for human life, but the sub humans thrive here because there are no police. if you want to be safe this taint the place.
Nothing but white trash, gang violence, bad schools, oh and did I mention no police. Run, run as fast as you can. There are still affordable homes in NJ. If you must move to this God awful place I suggest looking in Clarks Summit. The Poconos is not even fit for wild life.
Welcome to the Jungle!!!!!!!!!
Clarks Summit is quite overrated, in my opinion. The Abington Heights School District may be ranked amongst the "Top 100 Public School Districts in the Nation," but also bear in mind that the students are a homogenous pod of the children of doctors, lawyers, politicians, professors, etc. With so many parents who hold advanced college degrees, OF COURSE their children are going to feel pressured to excel academically in order to please them! If you notice the trends, the best public school districts in the nation are always in affluent areas. This doesn't necessarily reflect the quality or caliber of the curriculum, educators, administrators, etc.; it reflects the commitment of the students, overall. For example, I went to Pittston Area, a local school district in the Scranton 'burbs that is notorious for having among the worst SAT averages in the region. Nevertheless, given the wonderful resources at my disposal, I took full advantage of the great educational system our high school had to offer, netting myself a 1300 SAT average, a 3.8 cumulative GPA, and a hefty scholarship to attend King's College. I know of many other "success stories" that rose out of the ashes of our school district's "tainted reputation" as well, indicating that sometimes there's a difference between the quality of education available and the commitment of the students, overall, to achieve academic excellence. For an alumnus of one of the "worst" public school districts in the metro, I can certainly outwit most on this forum with my grasp of the English language, can I not? Basically, the trend is that if you are born into a higher socio-economic status (i.e. an attorney's child living in a Clarks Summit McMansion), you'll tend to put forth a greater effort into attaining high grades to follow in your parents' footsteps as compared to the child of an unemployed welfare recipient in inner-city Philadelphia would be. The teachers in Philadelphia may be just as well-educated and just as enthusiastic about their professions as those in Abington Heights or Central Bucks (a suburban Philly school that is sought after), yet their students just don't have the same "drive to success" that these well-to-do areas possess.
Housing prices in Clarks Summit are overinflated, in general, as a result of the school district's standout reputation. People, especially new transplants with no interest in Scranton's urban living options, are willing to pay a hefty premium on a home in order to enroll their children in Abington Heights. I know of similar "success stories" who tell me that the Scranton School District was blessed with excellent educators as well; however, the low percentage of "well-to-do" families within the city limits hurts the district's reputation, as less students here are driven to chase that 4.0 GPA and 1600 (Now 2400 SAT) as there are in the Abingtons. If your child truly has the ambition and motivation to succeed, then they can do so in just about any school district in our region, regardless of prevailing socioeconomic conditions. In the future, I'll be sending my three children to school in the Scranton School District, and I'll be just as comfortable in their successes from our Hill Section Victorian as I would be if I had chosen to raise my family in a Clarks Summit McMansion.
Clarks Summit isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Is it a great place to raise a family? Yes. Is it any better than other nearby towns, and correspondingly worth the additional costs for housing and property taxes? Not at all.
and the new yorkers cannot leave their city mentality behind they still threaten to run you down in shopping center parking lots and are lousy drivers in general.
Really? I seem to recall a recent Black Friday in which I came to the aid of a customer in the Lowe's parking lot who was being harassed by a PA driver in a Volkswagen, after which he threatened to "break my neck." People in Scranton don't use turn signals; therefore, lousy drivers are evident EVERYWHERE!
Good heavens! I can't believe all the anger about PA and NY!
NJ has some wickedly rude inhabitants as well you are going to try to sell it that NJ has no problems or rude people? I think that is a little misleading.
Milford is a nice community. Stroudsberg, however has been dealing with some very serious growing pains especially post 9/11 after the exhodus from NYC. Housing here in Pike county is much cheaper than Jersey and much lower taxes as well. Unless you call 3 kids out on skateboards a "gang" then we have just about zero gang issues here.
This is my first time on this site. The best place right now is Milford, PA(northeastern). We are tri-state because we are bordered by NY, NJ. about an hour and a half from NYC. Schools are good. My daughter just graduated 2006. Delaware Valley School District.
Bride3
Quote:
Originally Posted by yessie123
hello,
I would like to relocate to PA, I work for the telephone company and they have lots of opennings in PA. I have 2 children and I am looking for a town or city that has good schools and its a nice family enviroment. Can you help?
Clarks Summit is quite overrated, in my opinion. The Abington Heights School District may be ranked amongst the "Top 100 Public School Districts in the Nation," but also bear in mind that the students are a homogenous pod of the children of doctors, lawyers, politicians, professors, etc. With so many parents who hold advanced college degrees, OF COURSE their children are going to feel pressured to excel academically in order to please them! If you notice the trends, the best public school districts in the nation are always in affluent areas. This doesn't necessarily reflect the quality or caliber of the curriculum, educators, administrators, etc.; it reflects the commitment of the students, overall. For example, I went to Pittston Area, a local school district in the Scranton 'burbs that is notorious for having among the worst SAT averages in the region. Nevertheless, given the wonderful resources at my disposal, I took full advantage of the great educational system our high school had to offer, netting myself a 1300 SAT average, a 3.8 cumulative GPA, and a hefty scholarship to attend King's College. I know of many other "success stories" that rose out of the ashes of our school district's "tainted reputation" as well, indicating that sometimes there's a difference between the quality of education available and the commitment of the students, overall, to achieve academic excellence. For an alumnus of one of the "worst" public school districts in the metro, I can certainly outwit most on this forum with my grasp of the English language, can I not? Basically, the trend is that if you are born into a higher socio-economic status (i.e. an attorney's child living in a Clarks Summit McMansion), you'll tend to put forth a greater effort into attaining high grades to follow in your parents' footsteps as compared to the child of an unemployed welfare recipient in inner-city Philadelphia would be. The teachers in Philadelphia may be just as well-educated and just as enthusiastic about their professions as those in Abington Heights or Central Bucks (a suburban Philly school that is sought after), yet their students just don't have the same "drive to success" that these well-to-do areas possess.
Housing prices in Clarks Summit are overinflated, in general, as a result of the school district's standout reputation. People, especially new transplants with no interest in Scranton's urban living options, are willing to pay a hefty premium on a home in order to enroll their children in Abington Heights. I know of similar "success stories" who tell me that the Scranton School District was blessed with excellent educators as well; however, the low percentage of "well-to-do" families within the city limits hurts the district's reputation, as less students here are driven to chase that 4.0 GPA and 1600 (Now 2400 SAT) as there are in the Abingtons. If your child truly has the ambition and motivation to succeed, then they can do so in just about any school district in our region, regardless of prevailing socioeconomic conditions. In the future, I'll be sending my three children to school in the Scranton School District, and I'll be just as comfortable in their successes from our Hill Section Victorian as I would be if I had chosen to raise my family in a Clarks Summit McMansion.
Clarks Summit isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Is it a great place to raise a family? Yes. Is it any better than other nearby towns, and correspondingly worth the additional costs for housing and property taxes? Not at all.
SWB, I agree 100%. Abington Heights school district is overrated. The teachers there seem to go on strike every year. And even though you may not read about it in the paper, Abington Heights has one of the worst school drug problems in the area. Its funny that the schools around here with the biggest drug problems are the affluent schools, like Abington and Prep, where the kids have a lot of money to throw around and more of the parents are too busy with their careers and amassing more material things like bigger and better McMansions, luxury SUV's, plasma screen TV's, desginer clothes, and other "necessities", rather than be "bothered" with raising and parenting their kids.
Contrary to most people's perception, two of the best ranked school districts in the area, especially considering the socio-economic status of some kids and language barriers in certain schools, are the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre school districts.
SWB, I agree 100%. Abington Heights school district is overrated. The teachers there seem to go on strike every year. And even though you may not read about it in the paper, Abington Heights has one of the worst school drug problems in the area. Its funny that the schools around here with the biggest drug problems are the affluent schools, like Abington and Prep, where the kids have a lot of money to throw around and more of the parents are too busy with their careers and amassing more material things like bigger and better McMansions, luxury SUV's, plasma screen TV's, desginer clothes, and other "necessities", rather than be "bothered" with raising and parenting their kids.
Another excellent point. I've noticed this in Pittston Area as well. We're not quite as affluent as the Abingtons, Back Mountain, or Mountain Top, but there's still a large element here of "maintaining appearances" and "keeping up with the Jones's." This is the type of community where one person, after many years of dilligent saving and self-sacrifice, will purchase an Audi A6 sedan for his wife to show his appreciation of her, only to have his more well-off next-door neighbor purchase an Audi A8 for his wife the next week just to upstage him. It's really a sad thing to witness; it was also sad to realize that I worked around 40 hours per week during high school to bring home a substantial enough income to afford a cheap car, cell phone, etc. that a lot of my peers were given on their 16th birthday as some sort of "rite of passage"; I know of one girl whose parents bought her a brand new Mercedes SUV just for the occasion, an object that probably 80% of the community's adults can't even afford to own! Nevertheless, I still feel like I'm a "better" person overall for understanding sacrifice and the value of a dollar. My parents combined earned $90,000 when I was 16, and I'm certain I could have afforded a used Camaro or Mustang if I had gone 50/50 with them to purchase the car, but I refused their help in order to take responsibility for my own expenditures. As a result, I'm now driving an older Ford Contour that isn't pretty, but it gets me from Point A to Point B without any hassles, and I couldn't be more pleased. The materialism and shallowness that oozes out of the pores of our suburban areas just isn't for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by conorsdad
Contrary to most people's perception, two of the best ranked school districts in the area, especially considering the socio-economic status of some kids and language barriers in certain schools, are the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre school districts.
I concur. In fact, I forget which one it was, but one of Wilkes-Barre's three high schools ranked very highly in academic achievement. (It might have been Meyers). I also hear that Scranton's schools are very good, especially considering just how high the percentage is of students living in poverty. People assume that "inner-city=bad"; that's not always the case. In our area, the two "cities" are more like very large towns, and both are quite liveable as a result (Scranton moreso than Wilkes-Barre, but even the Diamond City has begun to turn a corner during 2006).
What ever you decide on, try to stay out of "gated" communities. Some are going under, others have armed "security" people. As for flooding, you don't have to be near the Delaware to get wet. Some of these smaller creeks are dammed, and if not released in an appropriate fashion, high waters come to the high grounds.
Did you move to the Poconos. I too am taking a job at PMC and looking for a home in the area. Thanks
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If you notice the trends, the best public school districts in the nation are always in affluent areas. This doesn't necessarily reflect the quality or caliber of the curriculum, educators, administrators, etc.; it reflects the commitment of the students, overall. For example, I went to Pittston Area, a local school district in the Scranton 'burbs that is notorious for having among the worst SAT averages in the region. Nevertheless, given the wonderful resources at my disposal, I took full advantage of the great educational system our high school had to offer, netting myself a 1300 SAT average, a 3.8 cumulative GPA, and a hefty scholarship to attend King's College. I know of many other "success stories" that rose out of the ashes of our school district's "tainted reputation" as well, indicating that sometimes there's a difference between the quality of education available and the commitment of the students, overall, to achieve academic excellence. For an alumnus of one of the "worst" public school districts in the metro, I can certainly outwit most on this forum with my grasp of the English language, can I not? 
Basically, the trend is that if you are born into a higher socio-economic status (i.e. an attorney's child living in a Clarks Summit McMansion), you'll tend to put forth a greater effort into attaining high grades to follow in your parents' footsteps as compared to the child of an unemployed welfare recipient in inner-city Philadelphia would be. The teachers in Philadelphia may be just as well-educated and just as enthusiastic about their professions as those in Abington Heights or Central Bucks (a suburban Philly school that is sought after), yet their students just don't have the same "drive to success" that these well-to-do areas possess. 
Nevertheless, I still feel like I'm a "better" person overall for understanding sacrifice and the value of a dollar. My parents combined earned $90,000 when I was 16, and I'm certain I could have afforded a used Camaro or Mustang if I had gone 50/50 with them to purchase the car, but I refused their help in order to take responsibility for my own expenditures. As a result, I'm now driving an older Ford Contour that isn't pretty, but it gets me from Point A to Point B without any hassles, and I couldn't be more pleased. 
The materialism and shallowness that oozes out of the pores of our suburban areas just isn't for me. 
