To The Editor,
Unionville-Chadds ford High School is ranked seventh in Pennsylvania and is a top 500 school nationally, according to US News and World Report. More than 50% of UCF students take AP courses and more than 92% of students score proficient on benchmark exams. If parents are looking for a place to settle down and raise their kids, you can’t go wrong with UCFSD.
Look at the School District’s website, the sheer quantity of community events happening in the District is staggering: books sales, Relay for Life, art shows, fashion shows, Walk for Water—and that’s just in the last two weeks.
There is a lot of reasons school districts reach gold-standard status like we have in Unionville-Chadds Ford. At the top of the list is the teaching faculty. All the high test scores, nationwide rankings, bevy of community events, are all achieved, in part, by the hard work of the District’s teachers. Teachers volunteering their time to provide AP test prep, before or after school tutoring and mentor and advise all these student and community events, many of which help to raise money to fight disease, support our veterans or help our most vulnerable citizens.
The outcome of all this service and sacrifice—a School Board that wants to strip away even more from its staff. Many teachers in the District haven’t had a raise since 2012, have paid more for their healthcare and, what’s worse, the District wants to extend these practices for another three years. If the School Board succeeds, many teachers would find themselves making less money next year than they did in 2012. Is the School Board really looking to go backwards? Why would a teacher want to work in UCF if they can find better pay and benefits in at least four other Chester county Districts?
You are going to hear a lot from the School Board as negotiations move forward. This is a District in the heart of one of America’s wealthiest counties. The teachers aren’t looking to fleece anyone of their hard-earned money, but after years of making sacrifices to help our community, a fair raise and reasonable benefit costs are warranted.
What the School Board is proposing to do would erode much of what has been accomplished over the last generation in this School District. If our residents, parents and community members want to maintain the high quality services and standards that make this community one of the area’s most sought after locations to buy a home and raise a family, then please get involved and help us stop what this School Board is looking to do. You can start by visiting: www.facebook.com/UCFEA.
Scott Broomall,
President UCFEA
New London Township
It is time to stop rewarding non-teaching staff with higher percentage wage increases than teaching staff. a 5% increase means $10/month, $0.34 per day. Just because it is a negotiation does not mean you have to bring the 5% number down. It is a fair increase and should be awarded immediately. As a tax paying parent of the UCFSD I believe the board should stop playing politics and award the raise.
In addition Kennett school district is now payng their top teaches more than Unionville. All of the administrators have gotten a raise every year even in the bad economic times. Unionville continues to be number one in the county but not paid as number one even combining benefits. The school board continually states the canned message that they value the teaches but refuse to show that in action. They always say that there is no money. However every taxpayer knows that they set the budget and that after fixed costs money is alloted to what is valued. Doesn’t seem to be the teachers. A cost of 34 cents a day for the average taxpayer is not a lot of money