Op/Ed: Good news on standardized testing?

By Jeff Hellrung, Member, Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education Gov. Tom Wolf joined Education Secretary Pedro Rivera, advocates, and educators last month to announce a significant reduction in standardized testing for elementary students. One test section will be eliminated in both Math and ELA PSSA tests amounting to a 93 minute total time reduction. Also, approximately 22 minutes will be taken...

UCF board focuses on facilities work

By Julianne Besznyak, Correspondent, The Times Tennis court resurfacing and roofing work at Unionville High School were among a wide range of facilities topics discussed at Monday night’s Unionville-Chadds Ford School District Board of Education work session. EAST MARLBOROUGH – An abbreviated School Board work session took place Monday night due to the impending snow storm, much of which...

Silence breeds intolerance in our schools

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” — John F. Kennedy, 1961, who erroneously attributed it to Edmund Burke. By Mike McGann, Editor, the Times As I sat and listened a Board of Education meeting for two hours of discussion about the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District’s largely exceptional standardized testing scores, a week ago, which followed...

Impact of Trump election begins to shake up local politics

New president will cast a deep shadow over 2017 elections and area schools By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Things boiled over and got a bit testy Monday night, as a simmering feud between two Unionville-Chadds Ford School District Board of Education Members Michael Rock and Jeff Hellrung erupted during the board’s work session, Monday night. The dispute was putatively over issues related to the...

UCFSD: 22nd coat drive to help over 500 families in need

Drive works with Kennett Area Community Service to reach those in need By Karen Cresta, Staff Writer, The Times Unionville High School students Zach Kennedy, Taylor Nichols, Lainey Crosley, Francesca DiPlacido, Katy Frey, Elizabeth Koehler help kick off the annual Unionville-Chadds Ford Coat Drive. EAST MARLBOROUGH – The 22nd year of the Unionville Chadds Ford School District (UCFSD) Coat Drive...

Art Watch: Chester County schools make art to beautify their schools

Parents, artists working together to enhance schools By Lele Galer, Columnist, The Times At the end of the school year, several Chester County schools completed huge beautification art projects that have transformed areas of their school environments into vibrant, joyful creative spaces. Greenwood Elementary School, in Kennett Square, just finished a large mosaic mural project for their lobby entrance,...

Keystone FCU honors county’s ‘Shining Stars’

Avery Fink of Lionville Elementary. WEST CHESTER — Keystone Federal Credit Union announces the winners in the Ninth Annual “Shining Star” Awards. The award was created to recognize students who have shown a noticeable improvement in academic performance, extra-curricular involvement, attendance, and classroom conduct throughout the school year.    Send article as PDF   ...

UCF board opts to pull funds from reserve, cut tax hike to 2.66%

Lindner: colleagues are ‘kicking the can down the road’ By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times EAST MARLBOROUGH — Apparently, appearances matter. At the end of the day, it seemed that the optics of having a tax increase higher than 3% in Delaware County outstripped concerns over long-term finances and the state of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District’s balance reserve, as the Board...

Avon Grove adopts full-day kindergarten

After nearly a year of careful review and discussion, the Avon Grove School Board Thursday night approved a Full Day Kindergarten program for 2017-18 school year. The change was recommended in the district’s community-developed Strategic Plan, and is based on research that strongly shows that full day programs help better prepare children to succeed in the rest of their elementary school years. “We...

Grab a No. 2 pencil and underline this: the Keystones are unfair

While the legislature fiddles, teachers and students suffer By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times The good news is that the kids got to sleep in a bit on a school day. And while it’s becoming increasingly clear that our teens don’t get enough sleep — and a movement to delay the start time in Chester County high schools is slowly gaining momentum — that my twins, freshmen at Unionville High School...