By Connor Lydon
Contributing Writer

The Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board addressed several important issues and discussed a variety of topics during the Feb. 18 meeting.

The meeting began with the board’s recognition of Sharon Tober, the head of custodial staff at Pocopson Elementary School, who is set to retire this May after 35 years of service in the district, including 25 years at Pocopson Elementary. Several of the school board members expressed their thanks to Tober.

Following Tober’s recognition, the student representatives to the board highlighted several upcoming events at Unionville High School, including the school’s production of Newsies the musical, the indoor color guard and indoor percussion squad will be hosting competitions on March 14 and March 21, respectively.  Additionally, Patton Middle School’s musical will run the first weekend in March and the Chadds Ford P.T.O. will be hosting its annual art show on March 14, with the student representative emphasizing the importance of the sale to fundraising for the school.  

Furthermore, the student representatives highlighted the recent induction of James Smith into the Ches-Mont League Hall of Fame. Smith was recognized for his successful career coaching track and field at Downingtown West and his subsequent work coaching track and field at Patton Middle School.

As a part of the school director comments portion of the meeting, school board member Jody Allen extended a happy Lunar New Year, happy Ash Wednesday and start of the Lenten season, as well as a happy beginning of the month of Ramadan to all those who celebrate.  Subsequently, Vice President of the board Erin Talbert announced that the UCFSD Community Scholarship Fund has begun its fundraising season. Talbert explained that she and those running the scholarship hope to increase its reach to a more diverse group of outstanding students. She urged those in the community to give to the fund, if possible, as the program is run solely through donations.

Talbert also discussed how the district is adapting to new science requirements from the state level. Talbert stated that two programs are being test-run to accommodate those changes and will be voted on in April. She also offered an update on the school district’s developing policy on artificial intelligence.

“We brought together the best that was given to us,” Talbert said. “[We] created something that we thought worked for Unionville-Chadds Ford.” 

She added that the school district would be having professional development sessions to make sure faculty are as prepared as they can be, highlighting the iterative process of learning and growing from educators.  Her final point came with the acknowledgment of an upcoming vote for the purchasing of new software equipment for the school district, adding that it will take some work to get a full grasp on how it functions.  

Next, the school board approved items brought forth by board member Dr. Rashi Akki to purchase a new rough terrain vehicle (RTV) as well as high school gym equipment. Both costs were already included in the budget, and cost approximately $27,000 and $20,000, respectively. 

Susan Elks, a school board member, recapped some points of discussion from the work session on Feb. 9, and stated that the district is working on meeting new accessibility requirements slated for April of 2027. She stressed the importance of the work that lies ahead in making various digital platforms accessible to a wide variety of students, faculty and community members.  

After Elks completed her discussion items, her colleague on the board, Brian Shartz, raised a point of discussion regarding the moving meetings to alternative settings. Shartz said that he “want[ed] to reserve the right to object to the change to all meetings being here at the district office.” 

He added, “I always felt that there was a little bit different feel, and a little bit different style of engagement that happened when we were in the off-site locations, and I wanted to make sure that we weren’t losing that.”  

Akki agreed with Shartz, saying that there are intangible advantages of holding meetings in the fashion that they do. 

Elks disagreed with her colleagues, saying that to increase engagement, community members needed to be met where they are.  

Superintendent Dr. Tim Hoffman discussed the ongoing and complex process of planning and structuring reunification events, making sure that the district knows how to respond in case of emergency events. He said the importance of having specificity and clarity in power structures so as to increase effectiveness should there be a need. Hoffman also stated there would be upcoming drills to help those in the district practice what those instances might look like.  

Allen made the school board aware of State Senate bills 116, 974 and 1014, which tackle issues related to school district’s, including Pennsylvania’s long-term care and workforce crisis, dual enrollment through community education councils as well as Bell-to-Bell bill personal device restrictions. The State Senate approved these bills and the legislation has now moved on to the State House.