Access to T/E Schools is Being "Hardened"

School officials and police brief the public on increased security measures being implemented at Tredyffrin Easttown Public Schools.

The Tredyffrin Easttown School District is taking several steps to make it even harder for potential bad guys to gain access to the district's school buildings. The process is literally called "hardening" according to district officials who briefed the public during a nearly two hour meeting Wednesday night attended by hundreds of concerned parents and interested community members. The meeting at Valley Forge Middle School was held in response to the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut last month. Among the procedures that will now become part of daily school life in the district's eight schools: The two police chiefs and school officials emphasized that T/E Schools have long been ahead of most schools …

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T/E Schools Set Special Meeting on Security

The Tredyffrin Easttown School District is planning a special public meeting tonight to discuss school safety and security.

In the wake of the Connecticut school shooting massacre, the Tredyffrin Easttown School District is planning a special 7 p.m. public meeting tonight on security in T/E school buildlings. According to an announcement from the district administration, school officials will be joined by a panel that will include the Superintendant and Chief of the Tredyffrin and Easttown police departments and other experts on school security. Question cards will be available to allow anyone with a question to ask the panel. The meeting will be recorded and aired on Comcast Channel 14 and Verizon Channel 20. A copy of the agenda is available on the T/E School District website and is also attached to this article as a pdf. This is the announcement made …

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Hurricane Sandy

Sandy Means a Longer School Year for T/E Kids

Students and teachers in the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District will be feeling the effects of Hurricane Sandy more than seven months from now.

Students in the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District will be in school for a couple of extra days to make up for the two emergency school closing days prompted by Hurricane Sandy. A revised school district schedule published on the T/E School District website moves the last day of classes to Tuesday June 18, 2013. As it stands now that day will be a half day for students in grades 1-12. There will be no Kindergarten on Tuesday, June 18, 2013. The current revised school year calendar is attached to this article as a pdf file. That's the revised schedule as of now. Of course we haven't even gotten into the winter snow season yet. The district has also posted a schedule of when any additional snow or other emergency closing days would be made …

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T/E Teachers Contract

Both Sides Compromise in New T/E Teacher Pact

Tough economic times mean some new pain for both teachers and Tredyffrin/Easttown School District taxpayers.

Five months ago parents, students and teachers union members packed the house as the Tredyffrin Easttown School Board debated demoting the most-educated teachers to save money on a new teacher contract. It was a long, heated and contentious night when the strains of months of contract talks spilled out of the bargaining sessions into the public sessions. Monday night the mood was completely different as members of the school board and the Tredyffrin Easttown Education Association (TEEA) union shook hands, smiled and posed together for photos to mark a contract settlement on a new two year deal. Neither side got exactly what they wanted. For starters, it's a two year pact, not the three year contract the district had long said it wanted.  …

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T/E Teachers Contract

T/E School Board, Teachers Union OK Contract

The deal comes after more than nine months of negotiations.

The Tredyffrin Easttown School District Board of Directors voted Monday night to approve a contract agreement last month with the Tredyffrin Easttown Education Association. The two year deal essentially freezes salaries for the 439 full time members of the TEEA Union. The two sdes did reach compromises that will increase teacher out of pocket costs for many health benefits. The teachers will also face the equivalent of two days of unpaid furloughs in each of the contract years. The contract talks, which at times got heated, ended with handshakes and both sides posing for photos.

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TESD Contract Report Sparks Outrage, Debate

Parents, property owners and renters sound off in a fierce debate over teachers' contracts and a report that says T/E taxpayers are rich and should pay up.

T/E Teachers Contract

Fact Finder: T/E Taxpayers are Rich - Pay Up

The state fact finder hired to look at both sides in the the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District teacher contract negotiations tells T/E taxpayers that they're wealthy and should pay up.

The state fact finder hired to make a recommendation for a T/E School District teachers contract says the taxpayers in TE are wealthy and the district should put up more money to support some of what the teachers are asking seeking. The fact finder is not a mediator per se, but serves a similar function by trying to find common ground between two sides in a labor contract negotiation. Unlike a mediator the fact finder comes up with a settlement without acting as a go-between for talks. The fact finder in this case is Timothy Brown.  In his report, Brown makes comments about the T/E District being among the wealthiest in the state. At several points in the report Brown recommends that the T/E School District find the money for several areas…

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T/E School Board Grapples with Budget Issues

The school board meets Monday night to consider several ways to close a projected budget gap, including a new $50 activity fee for middle and high school students.

The Tredyffrin-Easttown School Board will grapple with ways to close a projected budget gap of about $6million when it meets Monday night. Among the proposals is a $50 student activity fee which will be voted on at the meeting and if passed, would be imposed on almost all middle and high school students in the district. Click here to read more details about the proposed student activity fee here on TE Patch. The teachers' union is urging its members to attend the meeting to push for other options. The teachers agreed to a pay freeze for the current school year and do not want to see members demoted as a way of cutting salaries and saving money. The teachers' current contract expires on June 30.  Click here to read the teacher's union press…

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Taxing T/E: The Earned Income Tax

What T/E District Residents and Commuters Need to Know About a Possible New Tax

TE Patch looks at the Earned Income Tax, or EIT, to explain what it is and why it's the topic of public hearings this month.

In June, the T/E School Board approved a 3.77 percent tax increase for the current school year. It amounts to an average $171 tax increase for property owners in the Tredyffrin and Easttown. That pales in comparison to what is now being discussed to raise enough money to avoid a huge projected budget shortfall that looms over the district in the next five years. Just as one budget is passed, the next is already being debated. Phrases like “budget gap” and words like “deficit” are spoken on a near daily basis. Those who’ve been around long enough to get the lingo know what’s coming next: tax increases. In the Tredyffrin Easttown School District, budget gaps have become an ongoing problem. And when the Board began looking into solutions, …

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