Upon retiring the Indian mascot in August, the District created a Mascot Selection Committee to guide the process of determining the new UHS mascot. The committee includes both UHS and Patton MS students, UCFSD staff, teachers, coaches and administrators, UHS alumni and community members. The 40 members of the committee have been meeting regularly since August to work through the various stages of the decision process and will recommend the finalist to the School Board on January 25!

At the beginning of this process, the Mascot Selection Committee established Guiding Principles for selecting the new mascot. Using these principles, the committee vetted over 500 students, staff, alumni, and community submissions through a series of consensus-building activities. Each round of consensus-building included thoughtful deliberation and debate that led the committee to the final two options.

Students in grades 8-12 voted in December for their favorite mascot option after viewing a virtual assembly (video below), which included a rationale for each of the two finalists as presented by the UHS Speech and Debate Team and performances by our UHS Cheer Team. We encourage you to view this video to learn more about each option and how they meet the Guiding Principles and connect to our proud community.

The committee has spent the last month finalizing the new logo and branding and preparing for the big reveal, which will take place at the UCFSD Board Meeting on January 25th at 7:30 pm!

To learn more about our process, we encourage you to view our work session presentation to the Board on January 4th.

Congratulations to the PIAA State Champions - the UHS Girls Golf Team and the District One Champions - the UHS Boys Golf Team! Also congratulations to the Unionville Girls Volleyball team and Coach Stephanie Smith on making history by winning the District One 4A Championship!

Student artists helped the district spread the message of Staying Safe Together in the UCFSD School Health & Safety Poster Contest. We were blown away with the artwork we received from our responsible, talented students. See some of the winning posters below:

Reggie the Raccoon is on a mission to spread important information to the elementary students of UCFSD on how to stay healthy and safe while at school. To celebrate the first week of students being back in school, Reggie spent a day at each school to welcome back students and remind them about the importance of proper handwashing, social distancing, and wearing a mask. He recently visited each school again after break and was very impressed with their safety skills! Reggie is lucky to have so many safety superheroes on his squad!

The District held its annual Holiday Card Design Contest where students in all grades at UCFSD were able to submit holiday-themed artwork for a chance to be featured on the District’s official 2020 holiday cards. Local artists, Dr. Sanville, board members, and UCF Art teachers served as contest judges, helping to select the following four winning submissions! Winning student artists were: Hattie Weir (4th Grade • Hillendale Elementary School), Nanak Kumar (2nd Grade • Hillendale Elementary School), Elleanor O'Donnell (9th Grade • Unionville High School), and Harper Albrecht (6th Grade • Charles F. Patton Middle School).

Congratulations to senior Leah Monteleone and junior Dylan Huffman who participated in the virtual NAfME All-National Choir. This is the highest level choir any high school student can participate in. We are proud of their accomplishments.

Our Board members generously volunteer their time planning, setting policy, and evaluating results; always supporting the District's mission - To empower each student to succeed in life and contribute to society. During the pandemic, the UCFSD School Board has worked tirelessly to make the best decisions for our students, staff and community. Here is a brief recap of some of the major initiatives and programs that were discussed or required Board action since the start of the school year.

AGENDA | VIDEO

The School Board voted to retire the UHS Mascot and charged the District with identifying a new mascot in 2021. A presentation was given by the Supervisor of Athletics, Pat Crater, and can be viewed here.

The Board also approved an agreement with the Chester County Intermediate Unit to establish the Unionville-Chadds Ford Virtual Academy which offers virtual learning to students who do not wish to return to brick and mortar school during the pandemic and prefer a fully asynchronous schedule.

The Board approved the District’s membership in the UPenn Delaware Valley Consortium of Excellence and Equity. The membership will provide our district the opportunity to continue to build our capacity in the area of supporting all of our students to achieve our district mission of "Empower each student to succeed in life and contribute to society." The consortium work is aligned with our Comprehensive Plan and with our Social Emotional Learning and Wellness initiatives.

Lastly, the Board approved an agreement to contract with Dr. Salwa Sulieman, a pediatric infectious diseases physician from Nemours, to provide consultation and data analysis of COVID-19 metrics as they pertain to our instructional model. Dr. Sulieman provides weekly reports for the District and presents to the Board each month on the metrics and what they mean for our community.

In September, the Board approved the District Health and Safety Plan to Reopen Schools. With the Chester County Health Department’s recommendation to start the school year virtually through October 9, the District adopted the health and safety plan and hybrid instructional schedule for when students eventually return for in-person instruction.

Additionally, the Board approved a Fall Athletics Health and Safety Plan. They also approved a revision to the K-5 hybrid instructional model to allow elementary students to attend school every day for a half-day when the District reopened.

Following the events of the summer and seeing a need for action, the Board read and approved the following statement - Condemning Racism, Discrimination, and Social Injustice in the Unionville Chadds Ford School District.

The Board approved the 6-12 hybrid instructional schedule for secondary schools to reopen in a hybrid in-person model beginning October 26.

In Facilities, the Board awarded the Double turf Field project to the LandTek Group (scope of work presented minus the MS baseball field). The Board also approved the purchase of High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Filter Units for classrooms and small group meeting rooms district-wide using funds from COVID-19 Emergency Grant. HEPA is a designation used to describe filters that are able to trap 99.97 percent of particles.

The administration updated the Board on the current hybrid instructional model and Dr. Sulieman shared that the COVID-19 metrics were trending upward, with an anticipated spike around the Thanksgiving holiday. With this information, the Board discussed and approved 6-12 to return to virtual instruction temporarily while the District monitored the data.

The Board also opted to table the vote on Winter Sports but approved the plan for voluntary workouts to continue. They planned to discuss the idea of a Winter Sports season during a special board meeting in December.

Facilities gave an update on the progress of the Long Range Facilities Plan.

The Board approved an agreement with Iris Creative for their services to create branding and imagery for the new UHS mascot. The new iconography will be shared with the announcement of the new mascot on January 25.

AGENDA | VIDEO

During the reorganization meeting, Mr. Hellrung was approved for another term as School Board President, and Dr. Simonson was approved for another term as School Board Vice President. All committee chairs remained the same.

Following the Reorganization meeting, the board held a regular meeting with a limited agenda to act on a few timely items.

On November 30, the PA Department of Health Released an attestation outlining several requirements the school district must follow in order to offer in-person instruction during the pandemic. Also the guidelines for when to close down school based on positive cases per building. The Board voted to ratify the District’s adoption of the attestation.

Additionally, the board discussed revising the kindergarten hybrid schedule including hiring two additional kindergarten teachers to allow for all UCFSD kindergarteners to attend school daily. This was approved during the Work Session on January 6 and went into effect on January 11, 2021.

After a thoughtful discussion on student health and safety, the Board approved the Winter Sports season to begin on January 4, 2021.

Lastly, the administration presented the Achievement Report to the Board. The report focused on the data comparison from fall 2019 to Fall 2020. The achievement report is presented annually to provide insight into our students' academic achievement and social-emotional well-being. The Board will discuss the achievement report during the February work session.