{"id":5702,"date":"2011-11-11T16:05:46","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T21:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5702"},"modified":"2011-11-11T16:05:46","modified_gmt":"2011-11-11T21:05:46","slug":"new-board-members-could-mean-different-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5702","title":{"rendered":"New board members could mean different approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members signal willingness to set aside differences and find ways to come together<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a>Next month, when the Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education formally meets to reorganize, the body will have a decidedly different look \u2014 just in time to take on a new budget and some looming policy issues \u2014 and potentially grappling with concerns about the state of Patton Middle School\u2019s aging and crowded building.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s election saw Kathleen Do, Gregg Lindner, and Victor DuPuis join the board, while Timotha Trigg was defeated in her bid for reelection. Frank Murphy won reelection in Region C, while Eileen Bushelow, running unopposed, won reelection in Region B.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019re going to have a lot of different people expressing different voices,\u201d said Do, who won a seat from Region C (Chadds Ford and Pennsbury). \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s a positive way to move forward. We\u2019re not all going to agree and I think there will be lot\u2019s of differences of opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the pressure is going to be on us,\u201d said DuPuis, who defeated Rob MacPherson in Region A (East Marlborough an West Marlborough). \u201cI think there are voter expectations, high expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

DuPuis said he thinks the results of the elections indicate a desire by the community to find a middle ground, being willing to listen and maybe be a little less consumed by one specific political philosophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the members we have are people of high ability,\u201d DuPuis said, but he said he thinks that common sense, open-mindedness and moderation will probably trump allegiance to any hard-and-fast dogma \u2014 whether it be those who oppose higher taxes or those feeling no expense should be spared to guarantee an excellent education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have to remember that it\u2019s about a lot of people with a lot of different interests,\u201d DuPuis said.<\/p>\n

Still, in a district that has been divided at times over the last four-plus years, and particularly after a somewhat bruising race in Region C \u2014 with charges and counter charges leveled \u2014 it may take a bit of time for tranquility to emerge, but the first hints of a more collegial dialog came immediately after the election results were clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI promise to learn from the voters\u2019 message and work with my new colleagues,\u201d Murphy said this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI congratulate Ms. Do and Mr. Lindner and look forward to working with them,\u201d he said. \u201cI thank Mrs. Trigg for her dedicated years of service and her leadership as board President.\u00a0I am humbled by the support of the voters in Chadds Ford and Pennsbury and I thank them for their overwhelming support \u00a0for my re-election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy said he hopes that everyone in the community will be able to get past the recent division and get back to focusing on working to make the school district continue to be a success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is too much important work to do in the coming years so let\u2019s just all take a breath, shake hands and get to work,\u201d he said. \u201cI promise I will.\u201d<\/p>\n

The outgoing board is scheduled to meet Monday for a work session, with a final formal board session on Nov. 21. The formal reorganization meeting \u2014 and the seating of the new members as well as the election of a new board president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members signal willingness to set aside differences and find ways to come together By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com Next month, when the Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education formally meets to reorganize, the body will have a decidedly different look \u2014 just in time to take on a new budget and some looming policy issues \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[182,44,24],"class_list":["post-5702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-election-2011","tag-school-board","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702","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=5702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}