Barrett Township, PA

Hi Nate,

I for one do NOT support the continued increase in PMSD administrators' budget when we can't adequately support the bus drivers and other front line workers in the district. If I gave myself pay increases in this economy I would go out of business. Not to mention, they claim to be "saving" money by outsourcing things like transportation which will put the locals out of work. How is it that the community has no say in these matters?

I went to one of the meetings where Robinson's increase was debated, the consensus from most was we can't afford it yet the school board, with the exception of one person voted to approve. I guess we can just keep passing the buck to the taxpayers until the entire district is full of "for sale" signs and foreclosed properties. The only people who will be able to afford the school taxes will be the school administrators. They brag about the minuscule millage decrease but they close down several schools which in my opinion should have DRAMATICALLY decreased our millage. Instead they pass the money on the the admins, give us a few crumbs, and pat themselves on the back.

By Kevin Conroy

In the mid-1970’s, the Cresco Railroad Station may have been the loneliest spot in the Poconos. The place gave no hint of its past, a roiling past that included as many as a thousand passengers a day, the parking lot jammed with horses and buggies and automobiles that would turn today’s heads. There were fortunes made in trade. Among the thousands of pieces of freight delivered there? Five barrels of pork delivered to Cresco in 1896 from Armour & Co, in 1900 a one hundred twenty-five pound barrel of soap, freight charge 25¢.

Editor's Note:
For those who don't remember, they tried 'outsourcing school bus drivers' in Chattanooga, Tennessee and it made the news in 2016:

Report: Driver Asked Kids ‘Are You Ready To Die’ Before Crashing Bus In Chattanooga

This driver was found guilty in 2018 for the crash, and subsequently charged with statutary rape.  

(Original Article Pocono Record)

Despite Election Day being over, yard signs have been popping up throughout communities in the Poconos over the past couple of weeks.

Community members have been campaigning to drum up support for the transportation staff at Pocono Mountain School District before the school board hosts a public meeting on Wednesday at 6 p.m. to potentially outsource those services.

The signs began to dot lawns and the sides of streets after the district’s school board announced at a Sept. 5 meeting that they would be looking into the possibility of outsourcing transportation services. The transportation department is made up of 150 bus drivers, 35 additional staff and 170 buses. The cost of operating the department in 2017 was more than $15.2 million, according to Wendy Frable, PMSD public relations director.

Did you know that there used to be a YMCA in Mountainhome?  How about Solar-Way, a Solar Design and Installation Service?  Lots of gems in this old publication.  The old library, Cresco station... a handful of organizations are still open for business in town!