Pocono Mountain Proud Of Its Two New Schools

The stately 200,000 square foot
Pocono Mountain Intermediate School.

The two-story 112,000 square foot
Pocono Mountain Elementary School.

Dedication day visitors voiced consensus. It's open and light. It's big but small-school friendly. Despite outstanding performances by the choir and band and despite upbeat pro-education speeches by elected officials, the intermediate and elementary schools themselves were the big crowd pleasers as Pocono Mountain School District dedicated both buildings in an outdoor ceremony on the district's 80-acre North Campus near Mount Pocono.

Parents toured the wide white halls of the intermediate school, pausing to marvel at the oversize lobby gathering area that shelters students who arrive early in an area where winters can be tough and no one should have to stand outside in the cold. They walked through the large cafeteria, the auditorium, the library and the gymnasium.

Designed by BASCO Associates, the Pocono Mountain Intermediate and Elementary Schools serve a community where student population may double in the next decade.

The 200,000 square foot Intermediate School houses 1,600 students in grades six to eight. The building contains 36 general classrooms, eight science and special education rooms, four computer labs and a centrally located library media center. The design provides a smaller-school ambiance in a large facility through color schemes common to each team learning unit. Common areas and classroom zones are differentiated with a theme color that's repeated in terrazzo floor tiles, lockers and painted trim.

A thin woods separates the Intermediate School from the two-story 112,000 square foot Elementary School that provides an educational home for 1,000 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The brick and glass-block building also has 36 general classrooms along with four kindergarten rooms, four special education rooms, two art and music rooms, a health suite, guidance area, cafeteria and large group instruction area.

During dedication ceremonies, Michael G. Miller, Senior Staff Engineer, representing BASCO Associates, presented dedication plaques and Ficus trees for the lobbies of both schools, and pointed out that the community, School Board, administration, teachers, contractors and local material suppliers all helped the architects and engineers on the design team and everyone in the community should take pride in what was created.

The two BASCO-designed schools share common roadways, parking areas and playing fields on Pocono Mountain's North Campus. The campus has a total student population of 2,700 and its own on-site water supply and wastewater treatment facility.