Stroudsburg HS: Remodeling or Rebuilding? (East Stroudsburg, Monroe: apartment, credit, homes)

[JamMan]

The 90 million plus "remodeling" of Stroudsburg HS is under way, and I went by and on the campus today. My jaw dropped! This is the farthest thing from a "remodel" I ever saw. There are so many construction vehicles, contracting trailers, city blocks of activity, missing homes and businesses on both sides of the existing school which the district bought...including beams (for a new building) driven into the ground where the hosuses used to stand on the southwest side...and in the middle of it all, the original HS building looking like ant in the middle of of a sandbox. How in the world can the school district call this a remodeling when what they are doing in actuality is rebuilding the entire campus while leaving the original building...which will get millions in improvements itself?

[Summering]

Stroudsburg High construction endures 11th-hour reconsideration | PoconoRecord.com

An interesting article I came accross.......

We felt about like that when we saw the East Stroudsburg High........Same spot.......tremendous changes. Doesn't look the same as it was before at all.

[JamMan]

Hi Summering,

Yes, I remember reading that article now.

So, you felt the same way. Do you think the millions spent in ES were justified?

Considering the economy and the drop in student enrollment in Stroudsburg, I don't see how anyone can justify this spending...especially under the name of "remodeling"..when it is on the backs of already overstrapped tax payers.

[Summering]

No, I've seen this before in NJ. A Denville school became a senior apartment.
( The Main St. School) The second downtown school became the "Police Station." I'm not sure if another didn't become the municipal building......it may have. That is just in one NJ town.

Our huge influx into the Poconos stopped, probably when the city people realized the hours needed to ride to their jobs. The ride is just too long, and kids were home on their own into the late evening.

I'm lookin' at my school tax bill right now before me, and its five thousand dollars..( not including town taxes).....I can't see it getting higher for a school that was fine, or needed a small wing put on it.

I can say that school building is non-stop in Monroe County......You wake up one morning and another is going up. The unions must love our state, and the building going on constantly in Monroe.

[fisheye]

Good morning crew,
Our educational system is in shambles. China and India are turning out thousands of scientist and engineers for every one we graduate. Our kids cannot get jobs; even if they do graduate. Then our educational system does not know the word proficiency.

I do not think that we are capable of change on a local or state level. What I would like to see us do is embrace the new technology. I think that we need nationally accredited, free, online courses available to anybody at any time. I think that we should team up some of our most creative game software programmers and educational programmers. Therefore creating educational programs that are also fun and interesting. We should want to learn. Some of our universities already offer free, online courses.

I think that it is long overdue for our educational system to become competitive. I do not believe that we should dismantle our current system - it should be used to facilitate the online system. Our traditional schools should provide the tools (for those that do not have them). They should test and verify the online grades. They should supply the remedial work for those that need it. Bottom line - traditional education should be downsized.

By the way, this NCC that many are pushing right now; has a terrible graduation rate. There was a PR article that ran and listed the graduation rate at 14% or about 1 in 7. Our students might as well take a chance at the casino!