Nexts Steps For Redistricting Tredyffrin/Easttown Schools Take Shape: What's Next

BERWYN, PA — The Tredyffrin/Easttown School District (TESD) will soon assemble a committee to determine which students will attend the future Bear Hill Elementary School.

Bear Hill Elementary School is under construction and set to open in August 2027. The district has been in the process of determining the geographic boundaries for which children will attend the new school.

An Ad Hoc Committee developed some parameters for the redistricting process, which Dr. Wendy Towle — the district's curriculum director — presented at Feb. 23's School Board meeting.

Parameters for determining Bear Hill's student body include the following:

• not dividing neighborhoods
• maintaining the boundaries that determine middle-school attendance
• adjusting middle-school feeder patterns: Once Bear Hill is operational, students from Beaumont, Devon and Hillside elementary schools will attend Tredyffrin/Easttown Middle School. Students from New Eagle, Valley Forge and Bear Hill elementaries will attend middle school at Valley Forge.

That would put all Hillside students in the same middle school instead of splitting them between both middle schools.

Next, TESD will form a Steering Committee that develops the redistricting plan. The Steering Committee will include 10 parents or guardians in the district who either:

• have a child currently enrolled in Grades K-2 — students who will still be in elementary school when Bear Hill opens.
• or, have a child currently in Grades 3-4 and a child who is not yet school-age.

The committee will ideally have two parents from each elementary district.

"We, the people on the (Ad Hoc) committee, agreed and the parents in the room also seemed to concur with the idea to have people on the committee who have some experience with the district and the schools," said School Board Member Dr. Roberta Hotinski, the Ad Hoc committee chair.

The Ad Hoc Committee also recommended including a hired external facilitator — not to exceed $7,000 — and a TESD administrator to the Steering Committee, while having school board members observe.

The application window for parents and guardians will be in April, with selection and notification taking place in May.

Redistricting details are available the district website.

Although the Steering Committee will construct the redistricting plan, the school board must approve it. The district hopes to bring a proposal to the board by the end of this fall.

Watch the full school board meeting below: