To put it lightly I was shocked to hear earlier this week that they were considering closing Barrett Elementary Center which is an elementary school in the Pocono Mountain School district that my oldest son attends. When we first took him there to take a tour of the school I was impressed with the school in general and especially all of the technology (the parents watched their kids from another room on camera, we took a ‘test’ with electronic buzz-in devices). Since our first visit we continued to be impressed with how quickly he was learning things (it seemed that almost overnight he was reading), how great his teachers and school activities/events were, and the everything the school had to offer.
From all outwards appearances the school looks first class and definitely not in financial trouble but there are underlying issues. The heating, air conditioning and the floor all need to be fixed, so due to the financial costs that are mounting and budget constraints it is considering being shut down.
I haven’t had the heart to talk to my son about it yet – I know as a child I didn’t want to move even a street away because I wanted to stay close to my friends, let alone be forced to move to another school.
There was a meeting earlier this week to discuss the closing but *sigh of relief* we found out today that it will be open for the 2011-2012 school year. As far as what the future holds I’m not quite sure – there is another meeting at the end of the month to discuss the issue further.
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