Pocono News Section

New Elementary School in the Poconos

New Elementary School in the Poconos - Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 6:18PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Wednesday, Aug 27, 2008 @ 06:18pm EST
EAST STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY - The finishing touches are being put on a brand new school in the Poconos. The new East Stroudsburg Elementary School will serve more than 700 kids in Monroe County. Students from three old schools will make up the new facility, which opens for the first time Tuesday morning.

Lisa Johnson spent Wednesday afternoon getting her room ready by putting out supplies and books. Johnson teaches first grade.

"It's really exciting. It's a great new atmosphere. Everything's brand new and state-of-the-art," Johnson said.

One floor up, it was a similiar story for second grade teacher Cara Ridner. She got to meet all her students Wednesday.

"The kids, they seem really excited. They were running around, jumping around here. They were very enthusiastic," Ridner said.

From the outside, the $36 million, three-floor school, is massive. Inside, it has almost anything you could ask for: a library, computer room, 38 classrooms, three music rooms, cafeteria and multi-purpose gym.

Students who will go to the school attended a ribbon-cutting for the facility Wednesday afternoon and many walked away with a ribbon of the ribbon. As their families toured the building, most seemed impressed.

"It's cool because the gym's big and there's a lot of cool stuff and there's nice teachers here," third grader Jaziah Vega said.

Another thing that's nice, the school has room to grow, especially in Monroe County where classrooms are filling up faster than ever.

"As of yesterday, our enrollment was 785 students. We have a capacity of 1,100," principal Irene Livingston said.

The new school will also have a kindergarten play area and soccer and baseball fields in Monroe County.