Revised: Corrects which board member advocated for diversity training.
By Julianne Besznyak, Correspondent, The Times
EAST MARLBOROUGH — Monday night’s Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education was largely focused on filling openings — and extending the contract of the current superintendent of schools.
Before the regular meeting began, four candidates to fill the Region B Board Member vacancy — created when Michael Rock abruptly resigned his seat earlier this month — were publically interviewed. The candidates for the open position are Scott Bosch, Robert Smith, Lisa Tascione and Tom Day. A debate and vote on the candidates will take place at the February meeting.
The board approved the resignation of district superintendent Dr. John Sanville and then approved the resolution to elect Sanville as district Superintendent for a new term of five years, beginning on January 24, 2017 and ending on January 23, 2022.
The reasons for Sanville’s new deal: back in October, 2016, it came to the board’s attention that Dr. Sanville was being aggressively pursued by a nearby district.
School Board President Victor Dupuis said that in comparing Sanville’s compensation with other superintendents in Chester County it was determined that Sanville was in the bottom third in salary and near the bottom in total compensation. The new contract will result in a 15.4% pay increase for Sanville.
Tom Drake of East Marlborough voiced his disagreement with Sanville’s pay increase and Amy Baram of Pocopson said she was concerned that the board did not allow adequate time for community to comment on the matter.
Ken Batchelor attended his last school board meeting as Assistant to the Superintendent. Batchelor has taken a position as Superintendent in Radnor. The board thanked Batchelor for his service and wished him well with his new position. The board approved the appointment of John Nolen — who had been Director of Curriculum — as District Assistant Superintendent for a term of five years, beginning on January 24, 2017 and ending on January 23, 2022.
In other matters, district resident Dell Joshi stepped forward to comment about his positive experiences when approaching the administration to discuss incidences of intimidation that either his children or his neighbor’s children have experienced. He commented that he was very satisfied with the quick response that he received from school staff and Administration. A high school student stepped forward to explain her difficulty in getting Administration to help her to stop a fellow student who was harassing her on social media.
Board member Robert Sage said that the district has the right policies and anti-bullying program in place and that it was not necessary to react to national election results. Board member Gregg Lindner discussed the possibility of the board attending diversity training in the future, and offer suggestions as to which groups might offer such training to the board.
Beyond the normal, routine business an independent auditors report was presented by Michael Mood, of BBD LLP. Details of the audit can be found on the district website.
Other items on the agenda included the School Calendar for 2017-2018 which was voted on and ultimately approved. The World Language Exchange to Costa Rica for the Summer of 2017 was approved and Plan Con Part K, required after the recent bond refinancing of the high school project, was approved.
A decision about approving the design phase for the challenge course — the rope course that would part of a leadership curriculum addition in the high school physical education department was tabled, as board members cited a need for more information.
