Despite the objections of more than a dozen residents, the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board directors unanimously gave the go-ahead for the design phase of a new middle school. The board also voted to approve the budget for the next academic year.
Next year’s budget calls for appropriations of $108,417,730 and includes tax increases for property owners in the district. Chester County property owners will see property taxes rise to 33.91 mils, a 3.99 percent increase, while property owners in Chadds Ford Township, the only Delaware County municipality in the district, will be paying 19.24 mils, a hike of 3.66 percent.
The weighted property tax is 3.92 percent, below the Act 1 index of 4 percent, thus avoiding the need for a referendum. (A mill is a tax of $1 for every dollar of assessed property value.)
Revenues for next year are estimated to be $108,353,101 next year.
As for the design of a new middle school, the vote was to award a contract to Breslin Architects to design a building to replace C.F. Patton Middle School. As reported previously, costs will be 4.6 percent of the final construction cost estimate. There are also supplemental services for various design elements, but they are not to exceed the time and materials cost.
Disagreement from many residents stems from a concern over the costs involved in building a new school. The district has said it will cost $120 million, while there are residents who contend the cost is closer to $260 million.
Matt McCloskey of East Marlborough Township and Hank Somer of Chadds Ford Township said they were in favor of moving ahead with the design phase, while 15 others said the board should pause and hire a third party to examine all the numbers.
Among those leading the call for a pause and re-evaluation by an objective third party was Mark Stookey of Chadds Ford Township. During public comment, he questioned the board’s and the administration’s truthfulness.
“One of the most disappointing things about this whole process, and there have been lots of disappointments, was the board’s response to the notion of an independent financial analysis, saying that it was impossible because it’s prohibited by SEC regulations. That is nonsense. I would call it a lie. If anyone had looked into this at all, you’d find out that that’s SEC deals with financial markets, not with internal decision-making. And to say that, to put that in your response to our complaint is just totally acting in bad faith.”
Stookey said the actual cost is more than double the $120 million budgeted for the project. He explained in a follow-up email that he came up with the $260 million figure after examining information obtained through a right-to-know request. He said the information indicates a debt service of $140 million. He also contends that based on those numbers, property taxes will increase to more than 27,000 by 2062.
Some of the others asking for a pause and reevaluation included Paul Koch, John Trigg, and Brad Patton, all from Chadds Ford, but also Kevin McCloskey from Pocopson Township, and Joanne Hall from East Marlborough Township, plus about nine others.
School board members all said the district has been open and honest about its numbers and that they intended to vote in favor of Bresling getting the design contract.
Brian Schartz, one of directors representing Regian C that include Chadds Ford and Pennsbury Townships said, “Because I think some people think it is OK to insinuate efforts of bad faith or bad diligence simply because someone looks at the body of evidence and comes to a different conclusion that is not doing your job correctly. I think my colleagues have really performed extraordinarily well throughout this process… I’ll be extremely pleased to vote in favor of this.”
Director Jody Allen, also representing Region C, said he, too, is concerned about how the final cost would affect taxes, but picked up on a statement made during public comment about it being difficult to know who to trust.
“Many of the concerns raised tonight were in response to an anonymous mailer sent to some district residents last week. This mailer was apparently designed to mimic an official UCSD tax bill and included a reference to a similarly anonymous website,” he said, adding, “I think it is not only ironic but hypocritical to accuse the board and district of not being transparent while simultaneously remaining anonymous themselves.”
The board will have another chance to move forward or stop the project after the design phase is complete and construction bids are submitted. If the bids are considered too high, the board would need to rethink the process and possibly consider renovation or simply making repairs and changes as deemed necessary. That consideration will take place in 2027.
As board President Vitoria Baratta said, “Until we plan this middle school and start to put actual numbers to it, we’re not going to know exactly what the cost is. But, at that, we’ll be making decisions [based on] the information we have then.”
The measure passed 8-0 with Director Raski Akki not in attendance.
Other business
The school board voted to approve the promotions of Michael Audevard and Amy Jenkins. Audevard, the current director of curriculum and instruction, was promoted to the position of assistant superintendent, replacing Hoffman, who was named the new superintendent. Audevard’s contract is for five years at a salary of $205,000.
Jenkins, the current principal at Unionville High, was appointed director of curriculum and instruction, replacing Audevard in that position. Her salary will be $189,000.
Also, as anticipated, the board approved spending a total of almost $3.2 million on various facility upgrades. Those upgrades include new roofs at UHS and Hillendale Elementary School, six new 82-passenger school buses, a robotic floor cleaner at CF Patton Middle School, and two combi ovens at Pocopson and Unionville Elementary schools.
The next school board meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m. It’s a virtual meeting on Zoom with a limited agenda. It’s scheduled to end at 8:15 p.m.
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.
