Armed with signs that read “Just say no!” and buttons etched with “Save our community,” Middletown Township residents on Tuesday pushed back fiercely against a proposal to build a new school on open land behind Penncrest High School as negotiations between the Rose Tree Media School District and the township drag on into the fall.
The Rose Tree Media School District, which serves families in Media borough and Edgmont, Middletown, and Upper Providence Townships, is proposing a new school for kindergarten and first grade students on an empty lot behind Penncrest High School. The district says the school will relieve overcrowding and allow Rose Tree Media to finally offer full-day kindergarten, bringing it up to par with neighboring schools.
Yet the proposal has not been welcomed by many neighbors in Middletown, who during nearly two hours of public comment on Tuesday raised concerns that the school would create dangerous driving conditions on key roadways, increase traffic, and burden taxpayers.
During the meeting, representatives from the school district presented traffic impact data to theplanning commission, an advisory board that will issue a recommendation to Middletown’s seven-membercouncil on whether the township should approve the project. The planning commission voted to postpone a recommendation voteuntil a later date, when the school district will be expected to provide more detailed traffic data.
The school district has said the school project will cost between $81 million and $82 million and will be paid for by debt taken out by the district, not increased taxes.
The meeting was the latest development in a protracted process for the Rose Tree Media School District, which has been attempting, unsuccessfully, to build a new school for six years.
School officials say the district is overcrowded and unprepared for a wave of young students coming in the next decade.
The school district’s enrollment has risen steadily in the last 10 years, from 3,779 students in the 2015-16 school year to 4,319 in the 2025-26 year. Enrollment is expected to peak in 2032-33 with nearly 4,600 students. Student population growth has forced the district to adopt space-saving measures, including installing multiple modular classrooms.
The new school would also allow the district to provide full-day kindergarten, officials say, as Rose Tree Media is one of the few remaining school districts in the region that only offers a half-day option.
During brief remarks at the beginning of the meeting, Rose Tree Media’s superintendent Joe Meloche said, “I think we all want the same thing ultimately, which is a plan that is safe, practical, and thatworks well for everyone.”
Yet dozens of Middletown residents, many of whom live in close proximity to the proposed school site, said they felt the project was misguided, poorly planned, and would add hazards to already congested roadways. Some recounted watching dangerous car accidents on the streets abutting the site. Others charged the district with failing to account for how many cars would be clogging roads during peak pickup and drop off times. Many said they disagreed with the concept of a K-1 center as a whole and asked the planning commission to require the district to come up with a different option.
“The site is too small, and student capacity is too great,” said resident Peter Wolf, who called the proposal “an oversized industrial project.”
Resident Sally Turek said she agrees that the district needs full-day kindergarten, but that “there are definitely other, better options than this.”
“This is like planning for Disney World. We can’t afford Disney World. We don’t need Disney World,” Turek said. “This is not the right time to do this, nor the right place.”
A small contingent of parents spoke in favor of the proposal, describing the crowd as a vocal minority and saying that the residents who needed the school most, namely parents and their young children, were the very people who were unable to attend the evening meeting.
“The kids are here. They need a place to go, and this notion that we can move the fifth grade to the middle school does not solve the problem,” said Ron Peterson, parent of an elementary school student.
“Is this an ideal spot? Perhaps not,” Peterson said. “But there aren’t better spots available.”
The proposal in Middletown Township is Rose Tree Media’s second attempt to find a home for a new school. The school district proposed putting a new elementary school in Edgmont Township in 2023, a planthat was voted down by the township’s board of supervisors, who cited traffic and location concerns.
The planning commission will reconsider the proposal in September or October and has asked the school district to provide more detailed traffic data.
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