Study could change school boundaries

As anticipated, Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board directors voted to retain the services of McKissick Associates to conduct an attendance boundary study that could lead to new school boundaries for elementary schools.

The board and district administration agree that Pocopson Elementary School is at capacity while other elementary schools — particularly Hillendale and Unionville Elementary — have room to spare.

Depending on the results of the study, boundary lines could be redrawn so that students in the western portion of Pocopson’s current area could be shifted to UES, Superintendent John Sanville said recently.

McKissick is being retained for $21,600 to do the study. Sanville said the results would likely be made available by the winter holiday with the board deciding what, if anything, should be done sometime in March or April of 2015.

Prior to the vote during the Oct. 13 school board work session, Sanville said two firms were considered, but felt McKissick — even though it charges more — was a better fit for U-CF because it has more experience working with school districts that serve multiple townships over two counties.

The other company was TransFinder, the same firm the district uses for its bus routing.

Sanville and school board directors interviewed both companies and concluded that McKissick had a better understanding of the district’s situation and how to approach the task.

“We thought they would give us a better product in the end, even though they were the more expensive company. Not by a lot, but certainly more expensive,” Sanville said.

McKissick recently completed work for the Downingtown School District, which gave the company a positive referral, Sanville said.

Board Director Gregg Lindner called the price difference “relatively small” and said that McKissick’s process would be “the least disruptive.”

“I felt much more comfortable with [McKissick],” Lindner said. “ [It], I felt, was the more appropriate place for us to go. It’s a better fit.”

Lindner added that factoring into his comfort level was that he felt McKissick was better suited to look at what’s going on locally as opposed to a wider more general area.

“You have to be able to look at things on a local basis,” he said.

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.

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