Since their inception during the tenure of former Unionville-Chadds Ford School District Superintendent, the annual community breakfasts have been about building community.
Now, with John Sanville at the helm, the purpose remains the same. But the 2012 breakfast was expanded to include the Kennett Consolidated School District.
“This event has grown since Sharon started it three years ago,” Sanville said between bites of pancake and sausage during the June 9 event. “Now we’re expanding to embrace our entire community. … It’s a nice thing to do to promote teamwork and friendship.”
While there were no specific goals under discussion for the building of community, Sanville said that although the two districts often find themselves in competition — most notably in sports between the two high schools — they have more in common than not.
“We have good folks in Kennett and good folks in Unionville-Chadds Ford and I think that we can work together. I think this is the start of working together on a number of things,” Sanville said.
There is precedent for the two neighboring districts joining forces. Sanville said the two middle schools came together to work at the Anson B. Nixon Park in Kennett Square during the Martin Luther King Day of Service back in January.
Barry Tomasetti, the KCSD superintendent, said the combined community breakfast is a natural since many students from both districts participate in a lot of activities together, but he doesn’t see the parents from the two communities get together as often as he’d like.
“We want to say we’re neighbors, that we have the same goals in mind as far as doing the best for our communities and our kids,” said Tomasetti.
He said he would like to plan more activities with Sanville to build that wider community. Part of that includes students from both districts getting together beyond that of competitors on an athletic field.
Tomasetti said he would like to see “deeper friendships” develop between students and employees of Kennett and U-CF.
This year’s Community Breakfast was held in conjunction with the Relay for Life, a fund-raising event to aid cancer research. There were teams from both school districts involved, teams walking to raise money.
— By Rich Schwartzman
