Keystones, mascot, suspensions all discussed at busy UCF Board meeting

By  JP Phillips, Staff Writer, The Times Brandon Tsai, Chirag Choudhary, Ibraheen Qureshi and Arnab Sircar.  Robert Wang is not pictured of the Patton Middle School Academic team. EAST MARLBOROUGH — The January 22, 2018 Unionville Chadds-Ford school board meeting was held in the recently-refurbished Charles F. Patton middle school auditorium.  Principal Steve Dissinger kicked off the meeting by...

UCF board discusses revision on suspension expungements

By JP Phillips, Staff Writer, The Times During last November’s work session, the Unionville Chadds-Ford School District administration committed to amending the Code of Student Conduct policy #218.  Since suspensions are included on college applications, many community and board members requested a review process that could result in wiping it from the student record under certain circumstances. At...

UCD board OKs preliminary 2018-19 budget

By JP Phillips, Staff Writer, The Times Unionville-Chadds Ford School District Board of Education President Jef Hellrung and Superintendent John Sanville share a moment during Wednesday’s special board meeting. Because Monday’s work session was cancelled due to bad weather, the Unionville Chadds-Ford school board met on Wednesday morning to approve the preliminary 2018-19 budget. Just shy of...

Suspensions, budget surplus top UCF board discussions

By JP Phillips, Staff Writer, The Times Unionville-chadds Ford Board of Education members Steve Simonson, and Victor Dupuis (left) and Jeff Hellrung (right) discuss issues as Superintendent of Schools John Sanville reviews information (center). EAST MARLBOROUGH — A handful of motions were approved, the fate of surplus funds were debated and the student suspension discussion continued at the Nov....

UCF seeks to balance safety and students free speech rights

By JP Phillips, Staff Writer, The Times EAST MARLBOROUGH — In this world of the internet and technology, how does a school district strike a balance between protecting itself and the responsibility to create safe learning environments with students’ right to free speech?  That was the issue raised by a first reading of policy 815, “Acceptable Use of the Electronic Communication System” at...

UCF audit shows $2.2M surplus from 2016-17

By JP Phillips, Staff Writer, The Times Unionville-Chadds Ford School District Director of Business and Operations Bob Cochran discussion finace options with the school board, Monday night. EAST MARLBOROUGH — Much of Monday night’s Unionville Chadds-Ford School Board work session was spent discussing district finances. Director of Business and Operations Bob Cochran explained that a preliminary...

Coatesville teachers approve strike vote; want talks to continue

District argues current offer, based on Fact Finding, is fair By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Hundreds of members of the Coatesville Area Teachers Association attended Tuesday night’s Coatesville area School District Board of Education meeting to protest being without a contract for more than a year. CALN — The war of words over the expired Coatesville Area School District’s teachers contract...

Kennett pledges support for DACA students

By Anne Uhle, Correspondent, The Times KENNETT SQUARE — The Kennett Consolidated School District said it will support students impacted by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) just days after President Trump announced that he would end the program in six months with the hope that Congress would come up with a legislative solution at its Board of Education meeting, Monday. DACA is a program...

UCF Superintendent rejects hate as school year opens

By JP Phillips, Correspondent, The Times The entrance at Unionville High School is ready for the start of the 2017-18 school year. EAST MARLBOROUGH — Unionville-Chadds Ford School District Superintendent John Sanville opened Monday’s school board meeting with this prepared statement celebrating respect and inclusion: “As we prepare to welcome 4,000 students, 700 employees and 3,500 families...

KCSD Board addresses parent concerns over class size

By Eliza Mohler, Staff Writer, The Times Parent Lisa Anderson addresses the school board about class sizes on Monday night. KENNETT SQUARE – Three weeks into summer, and some Kennett Consolidated School District parents are already thinking about the next academic year. Lisa Anderson, a parent from New Garden Elementary School, addressed the board about recent and potential future increases in class...