February 19, 2014

Contracts, communication matters and a rebuke highlighted the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board meeting, with the board voting to renew its contract with school Superintendent John Sanville.

The vote to renew the contract for another four years was unanimous, but the terms of the agreement were not.

Director, and former board President Eileen Bushelow agreed to extend the contract through August of 2018, but voted no on the terms.

“I’m not comfortable with some of the terms, therefore I will not support it,” Bushelow said. However, “My vote, in no way, reflects how I feel about Dr. Sanville. I wholeheartedly believe Dr. Sanville is the best leader for Unionville-Chadds Ford. I’ve worked closely with him for the past two years and know that he is a man of honesty and integrity.”

She did not specify what terms made her uncomfortable.

As of this Sept. 1, Sanville’s base salary will be $210,000 with annual evaluations allowing for yearly increases limited by the state’s Act 1 index. He will also receive all medical, vision, dental, life and disability group insurance benefits to which he will make contributions.

Sanville will also get 30 days paid vacation and an additional 33 percent of his annual salary if he does not take a sabbatical.

Director Keith Knauss said the board is still getting a good deal.

“We hired John…as a novice. At the time we placed his salary near the bottom of the list of all Chester County school superintendents because he was a novice. John’s performance over the last three years has been excellent and he deserves a raise that recognizes his excellent performance,” Knauss said.

He added the raise — 10 percent —brings Sanville’s salary to seventh among the 12 Chester County school district superintendents. He called raise a bargain in today’s economy.

That contract proposal and the school board’s reaction to a letter to the editor written last month against the contract also came up during a public comment period during the Feb. 18 meeting.

Chadds Ford Township’s Mark Stookey told the board he took exception to the board’s reaction to the letter, a reaction that included one board member saying the letter was misleading and that editors should submit such letters to the board before publishing them.

“It’s reminiscent of the bad old days…during consideration of the high school renovation project. Residents had strong views, but when their opinions didn’t conform with the district’s plan, they were treated with derision and contempt…I believe this did lasting harm to the district and contributed to what your communication’s consultant sees, even today, as ‘a pervasive perception that you don’t listen,’” Stookey said.

When the letter-writer opposed the contract, an opinion that the board didn’t like, Stookey continued, “…board members responded by calling him ‘irresponsible’ and his ideas ‘insulting to the intelligence’ — in essence, stupid. The president of the board suggests that there should be some kind of pre-review of letters to the editor, presumably to ensure that the facts conform [to] the district’s view of things. I find this to be quite a novel interpretation of the First Amendment,” Stookey said.

He told the board it should stop its hyperbole and ad hominem attacks and become an example for proper civil discourse.

The letter in question was published by two on-line news services, including Chadds Ford Live.

Other business

The board also approved a $25,000 contract to David Voss Associates to develop a crisis communications plan for the district.

It, too, passed by a 7-1 margin — Director Jeff Hellrung was absent — with Kathy Do being the lone dissent.

Do said such a plan “should not be a feel-good document” and is not convinced that Voss can deliver a sound plan since, she said, she has not seen any evidence to that effect.

“I have no idea what the plan entails,” she said.

Voss, who lives in Florida, has until the end of June to develop the plan, but there can be an extension.

School Board President Vic Dupuis said Voss might not be the best choice, but he is a good choice.

“If he doesn’t deliver, we can hire someone else later,” Dupuis said.