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Board approves tax-rebate placeholder, meal price increase and routine package; HVAC design, ski trip and personnel items pass
Summary
The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District board approved a slate of routine business and spending items at its Oct. 21 meeting, including a placeholder to include a proposed real-estate property tax rebate program in next year’s tax resolutions, a $0.25 school lunch price increase effective Nov. 3, a $148,500 engineering design proposal for HVAC renovations at Unionville Elementary and personnel and student-trip approvals.
The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District board approved a slate of routine motions and discrete spending and personnel items during its Oct. 21 regular meeting at Unionville Elementary School.
The board voted 7–0 to approve routine agenda items 3.1–3.3 and 3.4, and subsequently approved policy package 4.1 (federal fiscal compliance policies and related administrative guidelines) by a 7–0 vote. Policy 1.26 on class size also passed 7–0 after the board discussed public comments and the policy’s five-year review status.
On finance, the board voted unanimously, 7–0, to direct administration to include the proposed real estate property tax rebate program as a placeholder in the 2026–27 real estate tax resolutions (agenda item 8.1). Board members said final program details will be set later in the budget process, and that the SAGE program will remain available as a separate property-tax relief mechanism. The board also approved a $0.25 increase in school lunch prices — elementary lunches to $3.35 and middle-school lunches to $3.60 — effective Nov. 3, by a 7–0 vote (agenda item 8.2). The board explained the increase is intended to help offset rising costs and recruit staff for lunch service.
In facilities business, the board approved an engineering design proposal for HVAC renovations at Unionville Elementary School for $148,500 (agenda item 7.1), 7–0. The board also approved the ski club overnight trip to Utah (March 30–April 3, 2026) by a 7–0 vote (agenda item 5.1).
Personnel items were grouped in several bundled votes. Items 10.1–10.8 passed 7–0. A separate vote on item 10.9 passed with one abstention (final tally reported as 6–0–1). The board then approved items 10.1–10.13 in a final bundle, 7–0. Administrators emphasized that one personnel vote included a contract to pay for substitute custodial services only when deployed; there is no standing charge under that contract for unused hours.
Board president Dr. Baratta and committee chairs offered brief explanations when items were bundled for efficiency; roll-call-style votes were used for the decisions listed above. No item listed above failed to pass during the meeting.
Votes recorded in the meeting minutes: 3.1–3.4 (approved 7–0); 4.1, federal-fiscal policies (approved 7–0); 4.2, class-size policy (approved 7–0); 5.1, ski club trip (approved 7–0); 7.1, HVAC engineering design ($148,500, approved 7–0); 8.1, tax-rebate placeholder (approved 7–0); 8.2, lunch-price increase (approved 7–0); 10.1–10.8 (approved 7–0); 10.9 (approved 6–0 with 1 abstention); 10.1–10.13 (approved 7–0).
The board indicated some items that had been discussed at a recent work session will return for later readings (for example, harassment-related policies and the gift policy).
