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UCF District News October 2019

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A V A I L A B L E

2019-20 PTO DIRECTORY

The wait is over! The 2019-2020 PTO Directory is now available in PowerSchool! Parents can access the directory by logging into their Parent Portal and selecting School Bulletin from the options in the left panel. From there, select the UCF PTO Directory which will then pull up this year's highly anticipated directory.

Because this year the directory will be digital only, the directory is in a PDF format which when opened can be downloaded and then printed if you would prefer a paper copy! Click on the button below to log in to your Parent Portal to check out this year's directory!

UHS Named the William Tacey School of the Year by the Pennsylvania Communication Association

The Pennsylvania Communication Association has named Unionville High School as the William Tacey School of the Year. The William Tacey School of the Year Award honors school speech programs other than college or university programs. Qualifying schools have excellent curricular or extracurricular speech opportunities. The Pennsylvania Communication Association (PCA) also reviews how the nominated school has contributed to the promotion of speech communication education and how the speech program director(s) have contributed to the promotion of speech communication education in the area or the state.

A professor from West Chester University nominated the UHS Speech and Debate Team, highlighting its competitive success, overall growth and community engagement. The Unionville High School Speech and Debate team was officially recognized at an awards dinner at the end of the PCA conference on September 28.

In addition, Daisy Qiu, senior and Overall Team Captain of the Speech and Debate team, won the Jeanne Lutz High School Speaker of the Year Award from the PCA. This award recognizes excellent communicators and/or role models at the high school level.

Daisy has been recognized for her competitive success. She was the first speaker in the history of Unionville to qualify to all four "Pinnacle" tournaments–States, NCFL Grand National Tournament, NSDA National Tournament and the Tournament of Champions–in a single year. In addition, she has participated in a variety of community-focused communication opportunities, such as volunteering as a summer counselor with the Baltimore Urban Debate League, working as a Peer Mentor at Say it Like You Mean It Public Speaking Camp, and tutoring students through the Heart2Heart Club, which works with The Garage in Kennett Square.

Congratulations to Daisy and the entire UHS Speech and Debate team!

BOARD MEETING RECAP OCTOBER 21, 2019

Click here to view the full agenda and all documents.

All board meetings are filmed and may be viewed on the District’s YouTube channel.

Superintendent’s Report

The October meeting was hosted by Unionville Elementary School, therefore Dr. Sanville yielded his report to Dr. Lafferty, Principal at UES. Dr. Lafferty recognized three exceptional UE Stars who inspire others.

Clare Voss - Advocate for Change
Lincoln Farkas - Web Designer
Josi Patti - Entrepreneur

Clare was recognized for her passion project to help educate her peers on Victoria’s Law, a bill supported by Sen. Tom Killion. She invited Sen. Killion to speak with her class and share the importance of ending puppy mills.

Lincoln was recognized for his desire to help others navigate the difficult waters of technology. Lincoln created a website to help people better understand how to use technology.

Josi was recognized for her entrepreneurship. Her love for baking sparked her interest in creating a baking service where she makes cakes, cupcakes and other goodies. She even provided a sweet treat for the Board Directors.

Student Representatives' Report

Ms. Evanko spoke of UHS fall sports teams going into playoff competition. She also mentioned that UHS will be collecting canned goods for the Kennett Food Cupboard at this Friday's football game.

Ms. Elvin spoke of several UHS events:

- Homecoming in September

- Spirit week leading up to Homecoming

- Hygiene drive for Kennett Food Cupboard

She reflected on her participation in a presentation given at the PASA-PSBA Leadership Conference in Hershey, PA. She presented alongside Dr. Sanville, Mr. Conley and Mr. Hoffman on Policy 218 - Code of Student Conduct.

She also shared survey results from Lunch & Learn. She received positive feedback from the approximate 300 responses. She shared that students appreciate the chance to decompress and hang out.

Action Items and Committee Reports

Curriculum and Instruction

Mr. Dupuis reported that the Board had received an excellent presentation by the 8th grade Civics program in regard to incorporating community service into the curriculum.

During the October C&I Meeting, the Board received a presentation from the CCIU on the Brandywine Virtual Academy and discussed a potential partnership with the BVA as the District’s designated cyber school option. This option would allow Unionville students enrolled in the BVA to receive a Unionville diploma. Additionally, it would give the District the ability to negotiate competitive pricing for cyber education, and allow the District to have more direct engagement in the academic rigor of the curriculum.

Mr. Dupuis also mentioned the Question Persuade Refer (QPR) training District faculty and staff received. QPR training is a resource for suicide prevention.

Facilities

Mr. James Whitesel, Supervisor of Facilities, presented an update on the Long Range Facilities Plan to the board during the October Work Session.

Finance

Mr. Day gave the Finance report. The Board approved to renew the agreement with the District’s auditors, BBD, LLP, for three years.

The Board also approved the proposed 2020-2021 per pupil building allocations.

Personnel

Dr. Simonson presented personnel items. The Board approved a proposal for the CCIU to conduct an audit of UCFSD Human Resources services.

Policy

There were several Policies for First Reading. The Board publicly discussed in detail Policy 217 in regards to Keystone exams as a graduation requirement during the October Work Session and Regular Board meeting.

Upcoming Meetings

  • Curriculum & Instruction Meeting - November 11 at 4:30 PM
  • School Board Work Session - November 11 at 7 PM
  • School Board Meeting - November 18 at 7:30 PM

All meetings are held in the District Office's large conference room (DO-14).

The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Danielle Clark as the new Chadds Ford Elementary School Principal.

The Board approved her hire during the October 14 School Board Work Session. Ms. Clark comes from the Penn-Delco School District where she developed a strong background in educational leadership from her time as a lead teacher, President of the teachers’ association, instructional coach, and most recently Dean of Students. Her career in education spans 19 years and includes high-level experience in curriculum writing, instructional technology, educational mandates training, and instructional best practices training and development. Clark served as Association President for seven years allowing her positive influence to reach other professionals throughout the district and at the state and local levels. As a second grade teacher, Clark’s students consistently showed above-average instructional growth rates, a result of her deep knowledge of effective instructional strategies and her well-documented work ethic. Additionally, throughout her tenure, Clark was often selected to participate in district-level committees to support major initiatives.

UCFSD leaders met with CFES parents, teachers, and staff as part of focus groups to highlight the desired qualities of a new school leader. The search for the CFES principal began with a pool of over 40 applicants that included both strong internal and external candidates. The field was narrowed through an intensive and thorough interview process. Each candidate met with faculty, staff, parents, administrators, and Board members in a series of four interviews. The comprehensive process helped identify who would be the best fit as the next CFES principal. In the end, Ms. Clark rose to the top.

“We are fortunate to have Danielle join our UCF administration team as the new Chadds Ford Elementary School Principal,” stated Dr. Sanville, Superintendent of Schools. “Danielle’s impressive background in educational leadership stood out amongst the candidates. Equally as impressive was her compassion and positive energy. When we hire new administrators, we take into account all stakeholders - and I am confident that the entire CFES community will be pleased with Danielle as their new school leader.”

Her official start date will be on or about December 16. Interim Principal Dr. Denny McKnight will continue in his role until Ms. Clark is able to join the District.

“Over my career in education the value of strong relationships and the opportunity to grow and learn starts with a team,” stated Clark. “I am grateful to continue my learning and growing with the Chadds Ford Elementary School team. The sense of family and community is what has drawn me to Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and I look forward to creating strong bonds with all school stakeholders. It is professionally and personally satisfying to be connected to the mission of empowering each person to be successful in life and contribute to society. I appreciate the opportunity to fulfill this vision and I look forward to joining the team in the near future.”

UCFSD BIKE DRIVE | Clean Up Day is this Saturday, October 26 at Patton Middle School starting at 9:00 am! There are over 200 bikes to clean and repair to get them ready for the holiday distribution! No experience needed! [SEE FLYER]

UCFSD COAT DRIVE | Beginning November 1, consider donating gently-used, clean (unstained) coats and hoodies to the Annual UCFSD Coat Drive. All sizes and styles, infant through adult, are needed! Donated items can be dropped off in the lobby of any UCF district school through December 2. New items and monetary donations are also gladly accepted! Collected items will be distributed to over 500 families in need in our area! [SEE FLYER]

JAVA WITH JOHN | The next Java with John will be on November 4 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm! Take advantage of this special evening time to sit down with Superintendent John Sanville for some coffee and conversation! [SEE RSVP & EVENT DETAILS]

THE DANGERS OF VAPING - WHAT EVERY PARENT NEEDS TO KNOW | FOCUS is presenting The Dangers of Vaping: What Every Parent Needs To Know on November 6, 2019, at 7:00 pm in the Patton Middle School Auditorium. In response to the growing concerns from our community at large about the dangers of vaping and electronic cigarettes, FOCUS is partnering with UCFSD Administration as well as a variety of local health and substance abuse professionals to deliver an informational panel presentation and discussion for UCFSD parents. [SEE FLYER] [RSVP HERE]

PARENTING IN A DIGITAL WORLD | UCFSD presents Parenting in a Digital World: Youth, Technology, Social Media, Drugs, and Mental Health on November 11, 2019, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm in the Patton Middle School Auditorium. Parents and caregivers are invited to join us as we team up with Licensed Professional Counselor and Nationally Certified Counselor Ryan Klingensmith, who is the founder of Shape the Sky, an organization dedicated to creating responsible kids on smartphones. [SEE FLYER]

UHS PTO ART GALA | November 15 from 6 pm to 9pm and November 16 from 11 am to 4 pm - featuring over 70 diverse artists! Oil, Jewelry, Watercolor, Glass, Wood, Pottery, Pastels, Sculpture, Photography, Mixed Media & more! [LEARN MORE]

U-PRISE MEETING | November 20 from 5pm to 6:30pm | Community Safety Meet and Greet - Parents and children are invited to meet and greet local firefighters, state police and paramedics and check out their firetrucks, police cars and ambulances! [SEE FLYER]

Take a look at our Community Bulletin Board for new events and programs going on throughout the UCF community!!!

This year's theme of Service Above Self can be witnessed every day in each of our schools. Take a look at some of our elementary school students putting service above self!

Kindergarten and third-grade buddy classes at Hillendale Elementary School also demonstrated #ServiceAboveSelf by making seasonal placemats for the residents at Pocopson Home! Way to go Huskies! ||| The Kids With Heart Club at Pocopson Elementary School prepared 90 bags of groceries for the kids at Chester County Family Academy. Fifth-grade students then carefully double-checked and performed quality control on each of the bags before they were delivered to every child at CCFA.

"Another unique program being pioneered at Unionville: Lunch and Learn"

FEATURED IN THE DAILY LOCAL NEWS

EAST MARLBOROUGH—A couple of years ago, Unionville-Chadds Ford School District pioneered a program that enabled high school and middle school students to start the school day later. A recent report has touted the benefits of the program, academic scores have increased, and more school districts in Chester County are considering implementing a delayed school start.

And now, Unionville High School, with its 1,400 students, has embarked on another first in Chester County which also may be duplicated by neighboring school districts. It’s called Lunch and Learn, and after just five weeks of implementation, students say they will never go back to the traditional lunch periods.

Here’s how it works. Students get an hour for lunch, but they can use that time as they please. Some play basketball, ping pong or foosball. Others utilize the time to brush up on exams. Others work on school projects or makeup tests in the testing center. Still, others schedule one-on-one time with their teacher, which would have had to be done after school under the previous lunch period.

At the end of September, our schools participated in the nationwide Start With Hello Week! Start with Hello encourages students to create a culture of inclusion and connectedness within their school and to reduce social isolation.

Take a look at some of the ways our schools participated!

Chadds Ford Elementary School students wore green and waved hello in support of Start With Hello! Each student created a paper hand representing the gesture of "hello" and shared a positive message on it. Each paper hand was then placed on the community tree!

One of the ways the students at Hillendale Elementary School showed kindness to their fellow Huskies was by including one another during recess!

Kindness was also in the air at Patton Middle School this week where each Patton Hawk made a promise to be kind and then created "Hello Trees" out of their promises!

The UHS Girls Golf Team received a bid invite to the State Championships!

2nd Graders at Pocopson spent time this month writing friendly letters to their relatives and then mailing them!

Premiere of the red curtain at the UHS March on the Brandywine!

Tag us on social media or include #UCFProud in your post!