Officials update progress of Patton renovations, other projects
By Karen Cresta, Staff Writer, The Times
EAST MARLBOROUGH – The agenda for the Unionville Chadds Ford School Board’s work session on Monday night went rather quickly but board member Keith Knauss added a statement that was not included in the agenda regarding courses being taken by teachers that he felt were unnecessary and fall into an ineffective category that costs the district money.
Knauss began, “I want to talk about tuition reimbursement because I got a report this month for courses taken. We spent $240,000 on tuition reimbursements for 220 courses that teachers took and, of course, the district encourages teachers to take these courses by paying the tuition because we believe it results in more effective teaching. In addition to reimbursing the tuition, we increase teacher pay when they earn advanced degrees and complete advanced coursework. So in our pay system, teachers with bachelor degrees at step 16 earn $75,000 a year, while teachers with a masters’ degree at the same level, plus 60 extra credits, would earn $103,000. Plus, there is a strong financial incentive of $28,000 increase in salary and then that also reflects the retirement payments to complete continuing education courses.”
“So there is an unspoken bargain that teachers invest the time to take additional courses so they can become more effective and we pay the tuition and increase their salary,” Knauss continued.
“By the way, this is unusual in the private sector where companies will typically pay for tuition, but a salary increase is not guaranteed,” Knauss added.
“A shadow industry has emerged to game the system. This industry offers a number of three credit courses that add little to teaching effectiveness and courses that Dr. (John) Sanville would never approve if he was not constrained by contract language. These are Tech-Ed courses with names like ‘Google Apps for Educations,’ ‘Interactive White Board Technology,’ and my favorite, a second level of the incredibly important course about movie making with the title ‘Apple iMovie Level 2’ This has to stop because 25% of the courses taken each year, comprising $58,000 in tuition reimbursement, fall into this ineffective category. I realize these technical education courses are part of the contract and thus we are obligated to let each teacher take four of these courses but I’m wondering if we should strike a bargain with the union that can be beneficial to both sides. We give every teacher 12 automatic Tech-Ed credits without having them take any courses and we, in return, save the tuition money.
“I’m going to throw that out there and let the school board directors chew on that and I’ve talked with Dr. Sanville about this and I think he will be thinking about this also and maybe we can have some further discussions at a later time,” Knauss added.
Sanville, the district’s Superintendent of Schools, responded, “I can tell you that John Nolen and Ken [Batchelor] and I look at teacher requests for tuition reimbursements and the courses that they take very closely. Where we have less prerogative in terms of what’s approved is in the technology side. Now, if I can say just one thing relative to that, there are some technology courses that make sense, especially with the pilot that we have with the (learning) management system and with one initiative at the middle school, but there are also some technology courses that I’m not sure how they might fit in with individual teacher’s responsibilities.”
Knauss concluded that he does feel that 75% are challenging courses that the teachers choose and that they do add to the effective teaching, but he said he is definitely seeing highly questionable course selections.
Sanville will also be investigating the opportunity to speak with colleges and universities to negotiate the cost of advanced courses for district teachers.
The board also reviewed the status of some of the school renovations. An update was given by the Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds, Rick Hostetler. He began by informing the board that the classroom portion in Phase 1 was completed at Charles F. Patton Middle School (CFPMS) but not until 2 p.m. the day before the doors opened.
“It’s a lot on our part to keep everything moving,” Hostetler stated.
Phase 2 of the project at the middle school which consists of the renovation of the main entrance, the main office, guidance, and the nurse’s suite is currently underway. All of the renovations should be completed by mid-December and ready for move-in over the winter break.
Hostetler disparaged the rumor that the middle school would be cancelling any activities such as its play because of renovations. He assured everyone that all activities held in the auditorium would not be affected.
In addition, Hostetler informed the board of an item in need of vote for next week’s meeting involving a change order for the middle school’s electrical work in the front of the building in the amount of $20,000 – $ 25,000. The original cost of the change was $36,000 and was disputed.
Finally, regarding the middle school, the rooftop air conditioner was installed and up and running. The unit was brought in from a school in Baltimore that never installed it and will be saving the district a lot of money. The total cost was about $14,000 to make the new unit operational.
“Sounds like the deal of the year for us,” stated the board’s Vice President Gregg Lindner.
Also addressed was Unionville High School’s auditorium roof replacement due to the excessive noise during heavy rain. A corrective design was determined and a tentative contractor was selected to do the work but it was being held up by the insurance company that is reluctant to move ahead on the $200,000 project and has not yet authorized the architect to officially hire this contractor. The school district, according to Hostetler, can issue a notice of claim to get the project moving so that the work can be projected for completion by the end of October.
John Nolen, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, provided an update on the Homework Committee. The next step is to have the faculty reflect on some of the action plans and implementing recommendations by the committee such as homework assignments over long breaks, homework journals, and Canvas assisting work that may be missed when out of school and when teachers have tests so that teachers aren’t having multiple tests on the same day for groups of students. Professional development for teachers will take place on Nov. 3, during an in-service day.
