Bristol Twp. Elementary, Middle Schools Redistricted

The Bristol Township School District is redistricting elementary and middle school students.

Earlier this week, the school board was presented with the redistricting plan. Parents were alerted shortly after and specific information will be sent to families on how their students will be impacted.

The district’s plan is to better balance the student populations and account for the under-construction Benjamin Franklin Middle School replacing Franklin D. Roosevelt Middle School next school year.

Franklin is slated to open in January 2023 and FDR will close at that time. Neil A. Armstrong Middle School will remain operational.

Currently, FDR has 725 students and there are 781 students at Armstrong.

When redistricting takes effect, Armstrong will have 672 students and FDR and then Franklin will have 754 students.

District officials said the goal was to “disrupt as few students as possible.”

Seventh and eighth grade students will be able to get one-year waivers to stay with their classmates and special needs students will be able to stay in their programs.

At the elementary schools, the district worked to better balance populations.

With the new district lines, no elementary school will have more than 1,000 students, as currently is the case.

Officials said the boundaries for Brookwood Elementary School in Levittown will remain the same, while Mill Creek Elementary School in Levittown and Keystone Elementary School in Croydon will see their boundaries change.

Students going from fourth to fifth grades are eligible to get a waiver to stay with their current class and special education students will remain in their classes, officials said.

To allay any parent concerns, Superintendent Dr. Melanie Gehrens said both the district’s middle schools are great and have dedicated teachers.

A presentation with more information on redistricting has been posted on the district website.

Below is Gehrens’ letter to parents:

Dear Bristol Township School District Community:

At [Monday’s] School Board of Directors meeting, the Board was presented with the “Realignment of Attendance Areas,” which will start at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. This will affect some middle school students and elementary students. If your children are impacted, you will receive a follow-up letter with more information.

The main reason we are changing school boundaries is to maintain a balanced population at each building, particularly because of the location of Ben Franklin Middle School and the closing FDR. Under this new plan, any student who is within walking distance of Ben Franklin will attend Ben Franklin. This means some Armstrong neighborhoods will be moving to Ben Franklin Middle School while some FDR neighborhoods will move to Armstrong. While this may feel unfair to some of the families affected, please remember that our middle schools offer the same curriculum and both have amazing, dedicated teachers. Our goal is to disrupt as few students as possible.

In order to balance out the population at Keystone and Mill Creek Elementary, attendance boundaries will also be adjusted slightly. Brookwood Elementary will not be impacted. New student orientation and other support will be provided for elementary and middle school students switching schools. We will allow students entering 5th and 8th for the 2022-2023 school year to finish out the school year in their current building. We have faith in the resiliency of all of our students and know that they will navigate successfully through these changes. More information on this will follow in my next letter.

Thank you for understanding.
Sincerely, Melanie Gehrens, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

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