The Chester County Intermediate Unit has found no fault with any current Unionville-Chadds Ford School District administrator or board member with regard to a residency issue that led to the early resignation of a board member in October.
On July 22, the unit issued a report on its nearly five-month investigation of the matter, saying the residency issue goes back to 2004 — when Jack Kenney was superintendent. John Sanville became superintendent in 2011.
The residency matter at hand is one factor that caused former School Board Director Holly Manzone to resign last October, a month before her term on the board expired.
It was reported at the time that an issue existed with a family that had two children attending district schools despite the fact they lived out of district. One of the parents has a business property in the district, however.
As reported then, Manzone presented a timeline indicating that Sanville had told the family several times that their children could not attend U-CF schools, but then agreed to allow them in.
The Intermediate Unit’s report includes Sanville’s certified letters to the family on May 23, June 25, and July 18 in which he repeatedly states that they do not live in the district.
According to Manzone’s documents, Sanville eventually told the family the children could attend U-CF schools if they slept in the family’s in-district property four nights pert week. Sanville never commented on the change except to say the district followed state law.
The Intermediate Unit’s report also contains an Aug. 10 letter that “memorializes” discussion with the family at an Aug. 1 meeting. In that letter, Sanville says that if the “children are sleeping” at the district business “at least four days per week - then they will be considered residents of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District.”
The report also says: “Every single person (whether an administrator or a present or former board member) acted in good faith – and with the best of intentions. Every single person was trying to act in what they (he/she) perceived to be in the best interest of the UCFSD and community.”
The report went on to say that the district implemented new policies and procedures in the spring of 2014 that are improvements over the procedures previously used, but advises that those new policies need to be standardized and consistently enforced.
“…[T]he school district should be vigilant on this topic — now, before it becomes a major topic,” the report said, because it could become “a growing issue for the UCFSD community — as the reputation and performance of the school district grows ever more positive.”
Additionally, the report said Sanville made no deal with the family in question and actually was the first to move on the family. He “inherited” the residency case from previous administrations.
“He was motivated to do so by the good intentions of Dr. Manzone to bring this issue to the attention of the board and administration,” the report said.
School Board President Vic Dupuis issued the following statement after the report was released:
“The board wants to thank the CCIU for conducting this independent review. Our aim all along has been to make sure we follow the law and do the right thing for taxpayers and students.
“It is reassuring to hear that everyone acted in good faith and that we now have the right policies and procedures in place.
“I want to underscore the point made in the report that our superintendent did everything right. He followed policy, acted aggressively, fully investigated and took appropriate action. No deals were made with this superintendent or board. This should put to rest any uncertainty.”
The full 75-page report may be found here.
An overview from the CCIU can be found here.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
(7 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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I read the letters at the end of the report which are very interesting. It is unclear why so much information is redacted or what happened at the August 1, 2012 meeting or why the investigation reports were never released. People with nothing to hide; hide nothing.
The letters make it clear that there was, in fact, a deal. What happened that there was such a dramatic change in such a short period of time? What do the investigation reports say? Why weren’t they considered in the CCIU investigation? Any investigation that purports to be “independent” and “thorough” should have considered everything.
I’m especially bothered by Sanville’s failing to understand who he represents. Why was he giving the family a possible defense? His job is to represent the people of the District; not those outsiders who attempt to take advantage of the District.
This report looks like the work of a cat: it scratches the surface then buries the findings. The report is then handed over to a bunch of lap dogs who praise their master. These pet analogies are deliberate given the fact that the wife of the superintendent is the founder of All Things Pawssible Animal Rescue. Interesting since the students are supposedly living at a veterinary hospital.
Sanville’s wife has posted that she has high veterinary bills for ATPAR so it makes the fact that this is a veterinarian even more interesting. Hummmmmm……I wonder how many ATPAR animals this veterinarian has treated in her practice?