How to Prepare for the June 21st School Meeting

The next public meeting for the Edgmont Elementary School is Tuesday, June 21st. Please plan to attend the meeting and PLEASE make a comment during the public comment period.

Participation from residents is extremely important at these public meetings. The Planning Commission (PC) and Board of Supervisors will consider how many residents speak for and against the school as they decide whether or not to approve the School District’s application.

Here are some tips for making your public comment on June 21st:

• The meeting starts at 6:30PM. It will be held at Penn State Brandywine in the Student Union Building. Here’s a map showing the 5 min. walk from the parking lot on Rt. 352 to the meeting location.
• Public comment is at the END of the meeting. Although we formally requested that public comment be moved to the beginning of the meeting to better accommodate parents with young kids, this request was denied. The meeting agenda is here.
  • While we respect the Township’s decision to arrange the meeting in the order they see fit, we are disappointed that a comment period at the end of the meeting may exclude some parents from speaking.
  • When you speak, mention your child(ren)’s age(s) and please tell the PC who is watching your children to enable you to participate in the meeting.
  • If you plan to speak, you must sign in on the sign up sheet located near the entrance to the meeting room. This sheet does not dictate the order in which you’ll speak (see below), it simply provides the PC’s Secretary with your correct name and address for the minutes.
• Sit at the front of the room near the microphone(s) and get in line immediately when public comment begins. At the last meeting, public comment was a free for all. The order in which people spoke was determined by how close they were sitting to the two microphones at the front of the room and how fast they stood up when the Public Comment period began.
• Commenters are given 3 minutes to speak but this does not mean your comment must last the full 3 minutes. If you’re able to succinctly make your point in less time, that will leave more time for your fellow supporters to speak.
• Parents, we encourage you to BRING YOUR CHILDREN to the meeting. Bringing your kids shows the PC who the school is for AND demonstrates why it’s difficult for parents to attend every single hours-long weeknight meeting about the school. Children are also welcome to speak if they feel comfortable doing so. (More on this below.)
• Be brave and know that your neighbors support you! Don’t let the opponents of the school intimidate you into silence. There are more of us; let’s prove it on June 21st.

Here are sample points that support the school:

• Edgmont Township should support the education of its children. The issue at hand is whether to allow a public elementary school. Our municipal government is tasked with protecting and facilitating the “health, safety and welfare” of its citizens. Providing a suitable space for a local public elementary school that will serve the community’s children is completely in line with that mission.
• A local elementary school promotes community. If you have an anecdote about growing up going to your own neighborhood school and the pride/togetherness that brought to your community, please share this with the PC.
• Approving housing developments without allowing for the infrastructure of a public school is unsustainable. As the Township’s population grows due to newly approved housing developments, providing a place for a public elementary school is the responsible thing to do.
• Young families are moving into Edgmont and these kids need a school. Does your neighborhood have a ton of young kids? Has every house on the block sold to a young family? Tell the PC!
• An elementary school belongs in the residential zoning district. Every public school in every municipality adjacent to Edgmont is in a residential district and ten of those schools are in the R-1 district. An elementary school should be near the population it serves and R-1 is an appropriate place for it.
• The current elementary schools are overcrowded. Do your kids eat lunch in the hallway? Ride the bus for 1 ½ hours a day? Tell the PC specifically about how your kids are impacted by the current capacity issues.
• A local elementary school provides opportunities for residents to volunteer and get involved with the Township’s youngest generation. Tell the PC specifically how you would value getting involved as a volunteer at the elementary school.
• An elementary school is better than yet another housing development on Rt. 352. An elementary school will help alleviate overcrowding and activity will be limited to weekday hours during the school year. The proposed school plan also includes significant setback and landscaping requirements that will create more visual screening for neighbors than a housing development would be required to provide.
• An elementary school will raise property values. Are you a real estate agent? Do you have experience buying or selling a home near a school? Please share your opinion about how proximity to an elementary school in a good school district enhances property values.
• An elementary school is a great neighbor. Do you have personal experience living near a public elementary school? Tell the PC specifically what you liked about being near the school and how it enhanced your neighborhood and community.
• An elementary school provides community facilities accessible to all residents outside of school hours. This school will have playgrounds, a playing field and meeting spaces that will benefit all residents, not just the students who attend.
• A new state-of-the-art elementary school building will benefit Edgmont’s children. Are you a teacher or involved with youth education? Tell the PC how a new building will better facilitate modern learning methods and enhanced safety protocols.
• An elementary school will have an enduring impact on Edgmont Township. It’s not just about the kids who will attend this school in the next 10 years. Allowing a school to be built in Edgmont will have a long term impact on generations of Edgmont children for many years to come.

More on bringing our kids to the meeting… 

We get it, it’s hard to go to an hours-long Township meeting on a weeknight when you have kids at home. Bringing your children to the meeting will help demonstrate why parents of young kids have a harder time attending these meetings and, more importantly, will show the Planning Commission the exact Edgmont residents who will benefit most from a new school.

If you choose to bring your children, please try to ensure they are well behaved. We should strive to make our point in a way that is respectful to the five members of the Planning Commission. If your child feels comfortable speaking, we encourage your child to tell the PC why they want a school in Edgmont Township, too.

We recommend having just one parent or caregiver leave with the kids when its time for them to go to bed. If possible, it would be great if the other parent could remain at the meeting so we don’t lose all of the supporters in the first 45 minutes of the meeting, but we realize that just showing up is a huge task and we appreciate whatever you are able to do!

Here are more steps to take right now:

• Sign up for email updates from Connect Edgmont.
• Sign the Community Letter of Support for the new elementary school. The letter has already been signed by more than 130 Edgmont residents. It will be read aloud at a future meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
• Write a letter to our Edgmont Township officials stating why you support the school. Templates are available here: Planning Commission Letter / Board of Supervisors Letter. Letters can be emailed to Township Manager Neil Vaughn at manager@edgmont.org.
• Learn why we think The New Elementary School is a Win for Edgmont Township.
• Learn about the need for a school, the location and the zoning amendment here: Why the Edgmont Elementary School Belongs on Middletown Road.
• Read our unofficial recap of the May 17th public meeting.

Additional updates will be shared via email before the June 21st meeting.