Best Pocono Schools

It is not unusual for any parent moving to a new area to research the school systems. While you can easily review national statistics regarding specific school systems and schools, I'd like to present some viewpoints of those parents having children in the local systems.

Just a couple years ago, Monroe county and Pike county were the fastest growing areas in all of Pennsylvania. Along with the explosive growth came a need for new schools. For those of us living here, we are happy since it seems there are ample schools in place to support the local population at this time. Of course some educators would argue this but it seems most reasonable people see the population growth slowing.  Since school taxes reflect the largest portion of our local property taxes, we view this as very good news.  Personally speaking,  when I've visited local schools on business or for certain events, I've been most impressed with the construction and beautiful facilities.  This is a huge contrast for any of us coming here from older communities in NJ or NY.

As you might suspect, with the growth of the population in our schools has come the typical social problems faced throughout our country. As mentioned elsewhere, you can easily research any local community problems by checking local newspapers and public records.

As mentioned elsewhere on this site, I have worked in the homes of residents for several years and consequently can report the honest feelings of parents who actually live here. Not paid educators, not those who might be viewed as trouble makers or complainers, but regular people like you and me.

So what is the biggest concerns of parents?  You might be expecting subjects such as curriculum, teachers, gangs and you would be wrong.  Although the complaints of many parents are similar to those found in any state or city, the one subject that almost everyone complains about is the busing of students.  If you spend some time looking for homes in Monroe or Pike county you will understand that there are very few neighborhood schools.  Even if you do find a location near a grade school, you will probably find your children will be bused miles away for middle school or high school.

After speaking to several bus drivers there is no doubt they perform an excellent job of safely transporting children along our country roads.  All the school systems have a serious regard for student safety but the geography of the region mandates long drives to and from school each day.  It is not unusual at all for children to be on the bus for 45 minutes to an hour depending upon weather conditions.  This can add 90 minutes or more to their school day not to mention that this sounds like adult's commuting time.  So I've found a percentage of parents even elect to drive their children to school each day.  Obviously this isn't an option for most people.

There is a solution to this problem if you are moving to PA with children.  Some of the newest schools have been built on large campuses so the local students can attend the same general location for their entire education.  Living in the eastern Poconos, I'm familiar with the Northern East Stroudsburg School Campus. This modern campus includes the Bushkill Elementary School, the Lehman Intermediate School and the East Stroudsburg High School North.

The Tamiment community named the Glen is only 5 minutes away from this campus.  There also is the Pine Ridge community and Pocono Mountain Lakes community which are about 15 minutes and 20 minutes away respectively.  You will find the Tamiment community on our list of suggested top communities.