By Julianne Besznyak, Correspondent, The Times
CHADDS FORD – Monday nights Unionville–Chadds Ford School District Board of Education meeting took place at Chadds Ford Elementary School and featured students display projects related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).
The meeting started off with School Principal Shawn Dutkiewicz highlighting the STEM activities that are taking place at the school. A Science Fair took place at the school in January. Students in fourth and fifth grade were invited to participate. A total of 21 projects were proposed. Six Professors from West Chester University came out to Judge the projects and medals were awarded for participation.
Twelve students went on to compete in the Regional Science Fair at the Chester County Intermediate Unit. Those students were Ritvika Nandan, Elizabeth Yeh(tied for First Place and awarded Distinguished Honors in the category of Botany), Sree Yedida (tied for second place and awarded High Honors in the category of Chemistry), Natalie Chow, Lilly Zang, Shivan Maheshwari (won second place and awarded High Honors in the category of Mathematics), Steffanie Jones, Melissa Griswold, Sophie Griswold, Elliot Lee, Anand Shah and Varoon Joshi(The team of Shah and Joshi tied for firstt in Team Category Best of Show and were awarded Distinguished Honors).
The board voted and approved the purchase of a mower from Lawn and Golf Supply in the amount of $24,645.75, $39,540 to A.G. Mauro Company for Hillendale Elementary School replacement door hardware, $31,339.01 to Interface for carpet replacement at Hillendale Elementary, $14,634.30 to Shaw Industries for replacement of the carpet at Unionville and Pocopson Elementary, $17,689.72 to Denney Electric and Colonial Electric for Hillendale Elementary and Patton Middle School Exterior LED Light Fixtures, $31,000 to The Breneman Company for repair and resurfacing of the tennis courts at Unionville High School, $318,983.13 to Weatherproof Technologies for repair and resurfacing area of roofing at Chadds Ford Elementary, Patton Middle School and Unionville High School, $89,568 to Hertz Furniture for the replacement of the remaining lockers at Patton Middle School.
The Curriculum and Educational Technology committee highlighted three initiatives that were discussed.
The Chrome Books and Canvas initiative at the Patton Middle School is meeting all learning objectives. The current 8th grade students will be taking their Chrome Books to the High School with them and incoming 6th graders will be given Chrome Books.
The UPRISE committee was highlighted for being the only committee of its kind in Chester County that is facilitated by district special education staff.
The discussion is continuing regarding proposed changes to school start times. The committee is soliciting and receiving lots of feedback from the community. The final recommendation will be presented at the April 17, 2017 School Board Work Session. The School Board will be voting on this issue at the April 24, 2017 School Board meeting.
