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Unionville-Chadds Ford School District work session, Sep 14, 2026

2 h 29 min · 1 public speaker

Safety, weapons and police ▶ 2:16:21

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 2 h 29 min.

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Board reviews $10,000 bus driver sign-on bonus and healthcare consortium proposal 49:02

  • A district staff member presenting the finance report recommended joining the Multi-County Healthcare Insurance Consortium in January rather than the Delco Trust and said a chart comparing the two would be sent to the board. 49:02
  • The board discussed a staff proposal to address a bus driver shortage that includes a $10,000 sign-on bonus, a $3,000 referral bonus for current employees and a $1,500 retention bonus for current drivers. 1:33:19
  • Steve Simonson said the board would have voting items next week for routine personnel categories, contracts and a plan to increase the number of bus drivers. 1:33:19

Until Nov 4, lines where a board member takes a side don't name the member. Why →

Item by item (15)
  1. Opening and superintendent's report 0:03
    • The board announced it had met in executive session on topics including cybersecurity, legal items related to CCIU contracts, healthcare insurance options and transportation recruitment and retention. 0:03
    • The superintendent said the district had canceled bus routes at times due to lack of staff and that administrators were driving van runs where possible. 1:00
    • The superintendent said the district had onboarded a new CMA for the middle school project and planned a final presentation in November. 2:55
  2. Public comment and director comments 3:39
    • A speaker at public comment raised long bus rides and route cancellations for students attending a non-public school outside the district. 4:03
    • Two board members thanked the parent for speaking, and they said the board was working to get busing right. 6:07
  3. Curriculum and instruction report 7:45
    • A district staff member said Unionville High School is adding an academic center as a Tier 1 support for MTSS. 7:56
    • A staff member said an EdTech Council will first meet in mid-October and make recommendations by the end of the year. 11:24
    • Erin Talbert said the French exchange trip and the German exchange trip, items 4.1 and 4.2, are voting items this month. 13:07
  4. Board membership policy revision 13:53
    • Jody Allen said 8 policies, 1 administrative guideline and the district goals would be up for approval next Tuesday. 13:57
    • One board member proposed adding a reference to Policy 6.1 to the sentence on electronic participation in Policy 004 and moving that sentence to the end of the second paragraph under removal. 15:24
  5. District goals discussion 17:05
    • The superintendent said board feedback centered on the MTSS goal, whether to include the middle school project and whether to include transportation. 18:16
    • One board member said leaving out the middle school project felt like something was missing, and another board member said both the middle school project and transportation would be worthwhile additions. 21:10
    • Steve Simonson asked about the voting timeline, and a staff member said the administration was comfortable voting next week after adding language. 28:25
  6. Policy updates and first readings 34:11
    • The superintendent said several policies up for approval were updated to reflect school code changes or to add legal citations. 34:11
    • A first-reading policy would require weekly wellness checks for students in the district's virtual program, as required by a school code change. 38:46
    • Brian Schartz asked whether the wellness check policy codified existing practice, and a staff member said the check-ins were not a brand new practice but are now required. 40:49
  7. Healthcare insurance consortium 49:02
    • The staff member said the consortium's stop-loss deductible is $425,000 and the district's cost would be $551,000, a reduction of $258,000 from the current premium. 49:02
    • The staff member said the recommended consortium has 11 school districts and would let the district keep Optum as its pharmacy benefit manager, while the Delco Trust requires CVS Caremark. 50:54
    • One speaker asked for a side-by-side comparison of the two trusts, and one board member said avoiding disruption for employees was a real benefit. 1:00:08
  8. Budget index and local revenue 1:07:15
    • The staff member said the base Act 1 index for the '27-'28 budget was set at 3.6%. 1:07:46
    • Brian Schartz asked whether interest income would exceed the $1.3 million budgeted, and the staff member said yes. 1:11:07
  9. Facilities projects update 1:11:31
    • The staff member said the new solar array began producing power last Friday and that a project oversight committee for the middle school is expected to first meet in mid to late October. 1:11:41
    • A facilities staff member said the district budgeted approximately $6.4 million for 2026 projects and anticipates spending $5.7 million. 1:12:42
    • Erin Talbert asked about the Chadds Ford water project, and the staff member said there is no reconciled new plan to extend the water main at a reasonable price. 1:26:41
  10. Transportation department changes 1:33:13
    • A staff member outlined a $10,000 sign-on bonus paid in 3 installments, a $3,000 referral bonus, a $1,500 retention bonus and credit for prior school bus driving experience in starting pay. 1:33:53
    • The staff member said the district has had 23 applicants, with 1 being onboarded, 3 awaiting replies to offers and 7 who declined offers. 1:37:08
    • One board member said it is the most substantial plan to address the bus driver shortage in 12, 14 years. 1:44:00
  11. Personnel contracts 1:44:00
    • A district staff member presented a contract for leadership training and development and team development for the school board, and one board member said support for it rested on its value in helping the board communicate with the administrative team. 1:45:33
    • A staff member presented a $10,500 contract with the CCIU for a human resources systems review, and one board member said it was the right time for the assessment. 1:55:19
    • The staff member presented a contract for an interim supervisor of elementary special education at a daily rate of $804.54. 1:58:05
  12. Communications report 2:00:06
    • A communications staff member presented the new district website and said the district is responding to community feedback on it. 2:01:07
    • The staff member said a strategic plan committee will hold 5 work sessions in October, November, January, March and May, with a draft going to the board in June. 2:05:58
  13. Student activities report 2:07:49
    • The staff member said a goal this year is to explore expanding Unified Sports programs. 2:11:22
    • A staff member said a team is developing an activity fee proposal to bring to the board in April. 2:13:12
  14. Safe schools report 2:16:21
    • A district staff member said the first District Safety Council meeting would be September 23 and that reunification training and exercises were planned for January and April. 2:17:35
    • A district staff member said the district had a phishing situation on August 31 and was able to identify it, shut it down quickly and mitigate the issue. 2:18:08
  15. Closing comments 2:27:11
    • Joe Everett congratulated the district team on a successful start to the school year. 2:27:48
    • The next regular board meeting was set for Tuesday the 22nd because school is closed on the 21st. 2:28:56

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

What was said

What board members said, in order

Is the most substantial plan to address our bus driver shortage that we've come up with in 12, 14 years, something like that. And, um, I think it addresses keeping the drivers we have and, and addresses the barriers that exist to bringing in new drivers.Steve Simonson · Board member1:44:01
Other meetings

Other meetings of this board

Video: posted by the district as “UCFSD Work Session - September 2026”