{"id":5266,"date":"2011-10-21T11:05:27","date_gmt":"2011-10-21T15:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5266"},"modified":"2011-10-21T11:05:27","modified_gmt":"2011-10-21T15:05:27","slug":"a-quiet-force-sweeney-leaves-school-board-amid-praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5266","title":{"rendered":"A quiet force, Sweeney leaves school board amid praise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retiring after 18 years on the Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education, member cited by colleagues, community members for her positive influence on the school district<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Corrine Sweeney shows off the crystal apple presented to her by her colleagues during Monday night Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education meeting. Sweeney is retiring from the board after 18 years of service to the community.<\/p><\/div>\n

POCOPSON \u2014 Dr. John Sanville opened Monday night\u2019s Board of Education meeting speaking \u2014 somewhat mysteriously \u2014 about 1993.<\/p>\n

Sanville, Superintendent of schools for the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, listed of a few of the historical highlights from that year \u2014 the first year of President Bill Clinton\u2019s administration, among other highlights \u2014 but it all related to one Unionville milestone: the year Corrine Sweeney joined the Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education.<\/p>\n

After 18 years on the board, Sweeney is retiring and Monday night was her final regular board meeting (she plans to attend the board work session on Nov. 14 \u2014 the final meeting before her successor, either Victor DuPuis or Rob MacPherson, is sworn in) praise for Sweeney \u2014 as well as the presentation of a gift \u2014 seemed to be a constant thread throughout what was otherwise a fairly contentious meeting centered on whether the school district should study reconfiguring its elementary schools.<\/p>\n

Sweeney \u2014 known for her passion about Apple products, rarely is she seen at a meeting without her MacBook or iPad \u2014 was presented with a crystal apple early in the meeting, but then heard fairly constant praise from her fellow board members and members of the public as the evening wore on.<\/p>\n

To the last \u2014 and maybe even especially during Monday night\u2019s meeting \u2014 Sweeney was a quiet, yet forceful influence on her colleagues. With a lot less in the way of headlines and public comment, she served as a steady, calming influence at times when controversy raged, they noted. Monday night, it was her opinion \u2014 as the lone board member serving continually since the last elementary school reconfiguration \u2014 that appeared to sway enough votes to end discussion of a potential change from the neighborhood school plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had planned to vote \u2018yes\u2019 \u201c board member Jeff Hellrung said of studying reconfiguration.\u00a0 \u201cBut when Dr. Sweeney announced it was a \u2018no\u2019 vote for her, I had to look at it again.\u201d Fellow board member Frank Murphy also cited Sweeney\u2019s take as having a big influence on his thinking, as well.<\/p>\n

Jeff Leiser referred to her as a \u201cmentor\u201d and lamented losing both of the veteran board members who helped teach him the ropes \u2014 first Ed Wandersee, who left the board in 2009, and now Sweeney.<\/p>\n

As is typical, Sweeney initially deferred her final comments to next month\u2019s meeting but later, possibly swayed by the amount of praise for her from colleagues and the public, did share a few thoughts during the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is all about the people,\u201d Sweeney said. \u201cAll of the people, the students, the parents, residents \u2014 the entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n

She related, with a touch of sadness, a conversation with her daughter \u2014 a UCF elementary student when she joined the board, but now in graduate school. Although she was spending most of her time out of the area, pursuing her education \u2014 she kept her official residence in Unionville for one reason: so she could vote her mother \u2014 something she was very proud to do.<\/p>\n

Although you might not know it from her quiet, unassuming demeanor, Sweeney is one of Pennsylvania\u2019s most important figures in the world of equine medicine and horse racing.<\/p>\n

A three-decade plus resident of the Unionville area, Sweeney is a professor at Penn\u2019s Veterinary Medicine at the New Bolton Center, where she also serves as Associate Dean, and Executive Hospital Director for the Large Animal Hospital at New Bolton. Additionally, she is chair of the state Horse Racing Commission \u2014 which oversees all thoroughbred racing in the commonwealth.<\/p>\n

Despite \u2014 or maybe because \u2014 her status as a heavy hitter in a number of circles, Sweeney tends to be loathe to speak at meetings unless it\u2019s necessary. During the recent negotiations with the teachers union, she was part of a three-person board team spearheading the talks. While Frank Murphy and Keith Knauss were very involved in the public back and forth with the union and others, Sweeney was more of a force behind the scenes, having been through a number of negotiations in past years.<\/p>\n

Of course, some might suggest \u2014 humorously \u2014 that not all of her ideas worked out to everyone\u2019s satisfaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard a lot of praise tonight of Corrine,\u201d Knauss said, smiling. \u201cI would like to point out one of her mistakes. She said, some years ago, \u2018Keith, why don\u2019t you run for the school board?\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retiring after 18 years on the Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education, member cited by colleagues, community members for her positive influence on the school district By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com POCOPSON \u2014 Dr. John Sanville opened Monday night\u2019s Board of Education meeting speaking \u2014 somewhat mysteriously \u2014 about 1993. Sanville, Superintendent of schools for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[44,635,24],"class_list":["post-5266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-school-board","tag-sweeney","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5266","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=5266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}