Sanville: Replace Patton MS - Chadds Ford Live

Unionville-Chadds Ford School District Superintendent John Sanville is recommending that Charles F. Patton Middle School be replaced with a new school. Sanville made the recommendation to the school board during a special meeting on Jan. 6.

His presentation to the board came after almost a year of discussions that included a feasibility study conducted by the architectural firm of Marotta/Main. Ideas under consideration were to either maintain the building, renovate it, or replace it with a new one. Sanville has previously said that it would be expensive no matter which option is chosen.

As previously reported, the school was built in 1972 and was considered state of the art at the time, “A place that people were proud of,” Sanville said. But a series of renovations up to the year 20000 were to common areas and built around the original structure leaving 70 percent of the rooms with no windows and no natural light. Plumbing, electrical, and other systems are original.

“Seventy-six-point-five percent of the square footage is original,” Sanville said during the presentation. “It’s about the education, health and safety of students and staff, stewardship of district resources.”

According to his presentation (found here), the costs associated with each option are in the millions. Building a new school is anticipated to cost almost $120 million while renovating over seven years would cost slightly more than $113 million. Maintaining the building would cost more than $67 million at present, but that would jump to $89 million if money was borrowed over 20 years.

“The recommendation is to replace…Can we afford to build a new middle school?” he asked rhetorically. “The answer is yes.”

Sanville added that the project would be funded through a series of bond issues and could be completed with tax increases below the Act 1 index and that the district has a Moody’s rating of AA1, the second highest rating.

Even before the meeting, several district residents expressed concerns about the numbers involved. One resident, Mark Stookey of Chadds Ford, sent an email to school board directors the day before the meeting stating his concerns, and he repeated them during Monday night’s meeting conducted via Zoom.

Stookey, who worked in finance and planning for DuPont for 30 years, said “In my professional opinion, the financial analysis that has been presented is wholly inadequate. It is incomplete and misleading.”

He said his issues are with the methodology and inputs, and he added that there’s “no valid financial analysis.”

He said the methodology has many errors, and he questioned the integrity of the inputs. The time periods covered by the various options are not the same and the cost of the maintain option seems excessive compared to other sources on what it would cost to maintain the school building.

“This must be fixed, and a valid analysis needs to be prepared before anyone, including the board can make an informed decision,” Stookey said. “I believe the administration’s recommendation should be withdrawn as premature. It’s impossible to make a recommendation about capital projects until there is a reliable financial analysis — and we don’t have one.”

Stookey was not alone in his criticism. Paula Maxwell, of East Marlborough Township, said she also has a background in finance, told the board that they should take Stookey’s comments seriously.

She wants the process stopped until a realistic financial analysis “that the public taxpayers can understand and use to make an informed opinion.”

Maxwell continued saying “I question how the administration can make a recommendation to build a new school when it clearly doesn’t have good financial information to base that decision on,” adding that it feels that facts don’t matter, that the administration just wants to build a new school.

She anticipates her own property taxes will increase by about $8,000 if the recommendation goes forward with the current numbers.

Lisa Chismire, also of Chadds Ford and Stookey’s wife, said there’s been “no intellectual rigor in how to best serve students and taxpayers regarding the middle school structure.”

She also said basing the decision to build a new school on the need for windows is “a perceived benefit not scientifically justified by its cost,” and wants the board to question the data about future enrollment.

“Perhaps anxious for a big activity, the administration is pushing the new building option based on poor data, faulty analysis, and choosing not to use the best financial analytical tools,” she said.

Chismire also said it might just be easier to construct a new building than to figure out how to make logical decisions during a major renovation or maintenance project.

She’s calling for a delay in the decision on what to do about Patton until proper financial tools are applied.

“Are the board and the citizens being hoodwinked,” she asked because the analysis is “incomplete and faulty.”

Paul Koch, also of Chadds Ford, thanked Stookey for his research, saying he made valid points that the board should take into consideration before making a final decision.

“Share your comments, share your responses to his note with the public.” He also said, “There’s no rush. You can continue to maintain what you have right now until you do a thorough analysis. I don’t understand the rush.”

Another Chadds Ford resident whose name could not be heard cleanly, said he, too has been involved in finance for more than 30 years.

“Not only is the financial analysis inaccurate and inadequate but, also, I don’t think we can make a direct correlation of the light effect on student health and academic success,” he said. “As you all know, students spend an inordinate amount of time outside of classrooms that drives their success like participation inn extra-curricular activities [such as] sports and music. Many students from U-CFSD have graduated from Patton Middle School and succeeded at high school and beyond…Instead of focusing on daylight, I think we should be focusing more on increasing academic rigor.”

Jay Patel, also if Chadds Ford, said the proposed cost of replacing the school would increase property taxes by $7,000 per year and that the matter should go to referendum.

Sanville later responded to that by saying there is no need because a referendum would only be needed if a tax increase would be above the Act I index, and that is not the case for the project.

Steven Jones, another Chadds Ford resident, said he agrees with previous district residents said, and asked the board to apply due diligence in considering cost and whether a new school is truly needed.

“This is a lot of money, and I’d really like to pause and take a look at the hard costs associated with this project,” Jones said. “I’ve been to Patton many times and it’s a very robust and fairly current school. I question whether it really needs to be replaced.”

One resident from Pocopson Township whose first name is Brian, but his last name could not be discerned properly through Zoom, spoke out in favor of building a new middle school.

“I absolutely do not echo the statements made by any of the residents who all happen to come from Chadds Ford. I toured the Patton Middle School during one of the community outreaches, and I can see that the school is aged. It’s not up to modern standards; it is not up to what I would expect for UCFSD at all. This is the single middle school for our district, and it looks very similar to a prison. It does not and should not stay as our shining example of a middle school, and it should be replaced,” he said.

After resident comments and Sanville’s presentation, school board directors had a chance to make their own comments.

Jeff Hellrung, who was one of the board members serving on the feasibility study, said “The committee work was comprehensive, thorough, accurate, and was absolutely an honest analysis, including the financial analysis,” he said.

Hellrung added that he thinks Sanville’s presentation is justified and makes sense, even though he (Hellrung) is not happy with spending $120 million. Yet, he thinks the plan is good for the students, for their learning and their health and safety. But he added that he hasn’t yet made his final decision.

Director Rashi Akki questioned Ed Murray, one of the district’s financial advisors about bonds. Murray said interest rates were low during COVID but have now normalized. That said, he continued, rates might be lower when it’s time for the district to borrow for the project.

Akki also questioned Sanville on the timing, asking if it might be better to wait until after the debt service on current loans is reduced. Sanville said no, the cheapest time is to do it now. All the options will become more expensive over time.

Steve Simonson said the process the administration and Marotta/Main approached the project without any preconceived position, and that the “feasibility process was detailed and thorough.”

There are four meetings scheduled leading up to the final vote. Those meetings are on Jan. 13 and 21, then Feb. 10 and 18. Sanville said the Feb. 18 meeting would be for a request for a proposal.

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.