By John Chambless
Staff Writer

The Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board shifted its leadership on Dec. 4 and spent a couple of hours getting an overview of the achievements and test scores from each school in the district.

At the organizational meeting, four board members who were re-elected on Nov. 7 were officially sworn in. Elise Anderson, Jeff Hellrung, Thomas Day and Steven Simonson took their oaths. Outgoing board president Victor Dupuis nominated Hellrung for president, and the board voted in his favor, with Gregg Lindner voting against Hellrung. In a follow-up vote, Dupuis was unanimously elected board vice-president.

District superintendent John Sanville told the board, “I'm thrilled to have all nine of you back. We have a stable board in place that leads our district, and you are really dedicated to meeting the unique needs of our students. The work that you all put into it – it's not the norm for boards to work like this. I'm confident of your dedication to our mission. That strong dedication to serve our students is alive and well. I look forward to continunig to work with each one of you.”

Hellrung thanked Dupuis for his four years as president, adding, “I think our most important task is to keep doing what we're doing. We should hold on to our timeless core educational and ethical values, but also commit to a never-ending drive for improvement as we adapt to an ever-changing world.”

The organizational meeting closed, and the board began a special meeting with Hellrung at the helm. Principals from each of the district's schools presented test scores from the previous year, and talked about the achievements and goals for each school. While there was some deviation in test scores – many higher, some slightly lower – district superintendent John Sanville, in his summation, said, “What you have here in this report is a review of our mission and the success we've had in fulfilling it. There's lot of good data and stories. Whether you're looking at our operation from a standpoint of student experience or academic standing, or an innovation perspective, our administrative team, our support staff, our teachers and students are really flourishing. I give credit to the board that we have a strong core academic mission, but you'll also see a focus of the board on the student experience and consideration of wellness, and a growth mindset that comes with empowering our kids to be prepared for success in life after Unionville. You'll see that time and again. It's not just the numbers you get from a standardized test. Our students are more than a test score.”

A video of the meeting and school principal presentations is online at www.ucfsd.org.

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email [email protected].