PMSD welcomes 32 new Professional Staff during New Teacher Orientation on Monday, August 19, 2024. This is the largest group of new teachers to join the district in more than 5 years. The orientation was a great start to their new careers at PMSD.

I’d like to welcome all of our students, teachers, staff, parents and community members to the Pocono Mountain School District for the 2024-25 school year. 

One of our district goals always focuses on maintaining and strengthening our parent communication efforts at our schools and across the entire district. Just as it’s important for district and school officials to keep the lines of communication open with parents, keeping the lines of communication open between parents and their children is important, but no easy feat.  For a lot of parents, it’s really hard to get details from their children about the first day of school or any school day. One-word answers like “fine,” “okay,” “alright,” seem more common responses from children than getting anywhere near a detailed explanation about how the school day really went. If this is happening to you, parenting and child development experts recommend taking a new approach to when and how you talk to you children about their school day. This can change the conversation and help children open up about their day. 

One common theme among the experts is that students, just like their parents when they get home from a busy work day, may need a little time after the school day ends to decompress. Waiting to ask questions about the day until after children have a snack can really help give them the time they need to relax after a busy day. Also, instead of asking overly broad questions like, “How was your day?” or “How did your day at school go?,” which may cause younger children and teens to draw a blank, it may work better to ask questions that are easier for children of all ages to answer. 

(Continue this message from Dr. Elizabeth Robison, the PMSD Superintendent of Schools)