{"id":2860,"date":"2011-04-29T12:20:21","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T16:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=2860"},"modified":"2011-05-02T16:19:41","modified_gmt":"2011-05-02T20:19:41","slug":"uville-board-candidates-forum-shows-more-agreement-than-disagreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=2860","title":{"rendered":"U’ville board candidates forum shows more agreement than disagreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Candidates in lone contested race do show differing views on HS project, outsourcing<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Victor DuPuis (left) and Robert MacPherson answer questions during Thursday night's Meet The Candidates event for Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education candidates.<\/p><\/div>\n

EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 With only one contested seat in three regions, it might not be a major shock that the prospective candidates for Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education were largely in agreement during Thursday night\u2019s Meet The Candidates night at Unionville Elementary School.<\/p>\n

With only Victor DuPuis and Robert MacPherson \u2014 the two Region A candidates seeking to replace the retiring Corrine Sweeney\u00a0 \u2014 showing anything like a serious difference of opinion, albeit in a friendly, even humorous at times, highly civil manner \u2014 the six candidates, including three current board members, engaged in a strictly issues-oriented event in front of a little less than 100 people.<\/p>\n

The evening was a presented jointly by the Chester County League of Women Voters and the Parent Teacher Organizations of Unionville-Chadds Ford School District.<\/p>\n

In addition to DuPuis and MacPherson \u2014 who face off in a May 17 primary and because of cross-filing, could still face each other in the fall, unless one candidate is able to sweep both the Republican and Democratic primaries \u2014 current board president Timotha Trigg, current board vice president Frank Murphy and current board member Eileen Bushelow were joined by Sharon Jones, a Pennsbury resident seeking to replace Paul Price, who chose not to run for reelection, answered questions from the audience.<\/p>\n

If there was a universal theme expressed by all the candidates, it was the need to balance fiscal responsibility with preserving education in these difficult economic times.<\/p>\n

Still, at times, there were some disagreements \u2014 especially as the evening delved deeper into controversial issues such as the high school renovation plan and the possibility of outsourcing school busing and groundskeeping and janitorial services.<\/p>\n

Each of the candidates was asked to talk about their views on the high school renovation, whether they supported the two referendums and how they graded the project to date. Bushelow said she supported the first referendum, but not the second, when the financing plan changed, but like many of her colleagues on the dais, felt it was unfair to grade the project as it is not complete.<\/p>\n

Jones said she supported the referendum, but was not happy with the way the project was finally approved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a lot of my neighbors disagreed with me,\u201d she said, but that she didn\u2019t like the sight of students being forced to attend classes in trailers outside of the school building.<\/p>\n

Murphy said he couldn\u2019t answer about support, as he did not yet live in the district when the votes took place, but also expressed reservations about how the project was ultimately funded.<\/p>\n

While Trigg allowed that the \u201chigh school needed a lot of work\u201d she said she was skeptical about the referendum, but would have supported it had the community voted for it. She said she did not support paying for the project under the district\u2019s operating budget, as was ultimately approved by the rest of the Board of Education.<\/p>\n

DuPuis and MacPherson probably showed their biggest policy disagreement of the evening, as DuPuis said he supported the referendum, while McPherson opposed it. While both agreed that the high school needed renovation and expansion, they disagreed with what the votes meant in terms of the opinion of the community at large.<\/p>\n

DuPuis said he felt that much of the anger and frustration came from the method of paying for the project, not the project itself, while MacPherson argued that moving ahead with the project after it was rejected by the voters twice led to \u201ctremendous distrust\u201d by local residents of the district.<\/p>\n

While neither candidate expressed unrestrained support for outsourcing busing or other school services, they both allowed it bears some study, but DuPuis expressed more reservations than MacPherson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a big fan of it,\u201d DuPuis said. \u201cI really question the long-term value on this.\u201d He said that while a private operator wouldn\u2019t have to pay for pensions and potentially benefits, they would still need to make profit, mitigating any likely savings for the district. He suggested that he\u2019d rather see the district\u2019s health insurance be outsourced \u2014 switched from the current self-insured plan to directly buying health coverage from insurers and claimed that the district could save $3 million by making such a switch.<\/p>\n

MacPherson suggested he was kind of in the middle on the subject \u2014 and really would need to see how much it would save before being able to make a fair decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a few dollars, is it really worth it?\u2019 he asked.<\/p>\n

Story Continues on next page<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Story continues from previous page<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MacPherson\u2019s comments were in line with the other candidates \u2014 all of whom allowed that the final decision would be tough and couldn\u2019t just be decided by cost factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking from the heart, I\u2019d like it not to be outsourced,\u201d said Jones, who has two children attending district schools and works as an audit manager for the Chester County Controller\u2019s Office. \u201cBut, speaking as an auditor, we have to explore all avenues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, she said, making such a move would have \u201cto prove cost-effective, year-after-year\u201d before she would be comfortable supporting it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

From left, Victor DuPuis and Robert McPherson, Region A candidates for Unionville Board of Education; Eileen Bushelow, candidate Region B, and Sharon Jones, Frank Murphy and Timotha Trigg, candidates in Region C.<\/p><\/div>\n

Murphy may have expressed the most passion on the subject, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a more difficult decision than the teacher\u2019s contract,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know, eventually, there will be a new contract and the teachers will continue to teach in their classrooms. The cost here is not just dollars and cents, but some 80 people, some of whom are our neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy said he\u2019d prefer not to outsource anything, but agreed with Bushelow\u2019s assessment that there would likely be a savings number that each member would see as a threshold and that each member\u2019s threshold might be different.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what that number is for me, right now,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cI can say I will vote what is in the best interests of the district.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the candidates also were asked about how they would work to conduct the ongoing teachers\u2019 contract negotiations in a more civil manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not in favor of the public negotiations,\u201d DuPuis said. \u201cMy guess is that teachers are not as far apart the public might perceive it.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacPherson gave a lot of credit to Murphy, who has been the board\u2019s point person in the talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI commend Frank for maintaining civility in a difficult negotiation,\u201d he said. \u201cThe two factions are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but I think the board has a good handle on the fiscal realities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, you can\u2019t just draw a line in the sand, you have to be willing to work, to compromise to get things from the other side,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you have to keep the comments, the vitriol, in the negotiation meetings \u2014 you don\u2019t bring them in front of the school board meeting, like we saw the other night.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacPherson was referring to a testy exchange Monday night between Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Association President Pat Clark and Murphy during the board meeting.<\/p>\n

Murphy agreed that trying to keep a civil tone is really important, as both the teachers and board members will continue to need to coexist and work together in the coming years.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to see them around town,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe they\u2019ll be teaching your kids next year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Candidates in lone contested race do show differing views on HS project, outsourcing By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 With only one contested seat in three regions, it might not be a major shock that the prospective candidates for Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education were largely in agreement during Thursday night\u2019s Meet The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,16],"tags":[182,44,24],"class_list":["post-2860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-schools","tag-election-2011","tag-school-board","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}