Chris McCune Runs For Another Term As WCASD Board President

Pennsylvania's Primary Election is May 18. West Chester Area School District's board president Chris McCune is seeking another term representing Region 3, which includes East Bradford, Thornbury, and West Goshen and Westtown townships. Under his watch, WCASD has earned high rankings from a number of evaluators, he points out.

He explained why he is running for election.

Chris McCune

Age: 48

Position Sought: School Director, West Chester Area School District, Region 3

Family: Married with five kids that attend all three levels in WCASD schools

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?: No

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Marketing, West Chester University

Occupation: Technology Sales and Business Development, about 25 years

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office: West Chester Areas School Board Director since 2013. Board President for the last 5 years

Why are you seeking elective office?: The district has made significant strides over the last 8 years improving academic performance across every facet of the district, raising our state and national rankings/profile, and improving our financial position while maintaining the lowest taxes in Chester County.
The next four years are critical to keeping WCASD moving in the right direction. I have zero political aspirations nor do I serve any party's national agenda. My focus is and always has been prioritizing the students and taxpayers of this district in every decision.

The single most pressing issue facing our district is: The past year has not been easy on our students, staff, and parents. I know this personally and am emphatic to the challenges that we have all faced. The single most pressing issue the board and district need to deal with is the long tail of the COVID-19 Pandemic. There are several major aspects to this, in no particular order:
1. Continue navigating our path back to normalcy. We all wish that things would have fully returned to normal by now. We continue to navigate the challenges and lean in where we can. We were one of the first districts in Chester County to have our staff fully vaccinated — something we lobbied for aggressively. We were the first district in Chester County to offer vaccination to our students over the age of 16 with parent’s permission. We are currently working with Rite Aid to run vaccination clinics in our building. Once the vaccine is approved for younger participants, we will look for ways to facilitate the rollout for our younger student population as quickly as possible. My goal is to push for the easement of masking and social distancing requirements so that in the fall our students and athletes have a better experience.
2. Finding ways to deal with learning loss, especially with socioeconomic disadvantaged and IEP student populations. The pandemic has been hardest on our students. We started working on identifying the learning impact in the late fall of 2020 and developing remediation plans in early 2021. We have laid out our plans for a very robust and customizable summer program. Going forward, I will continue to push our administration for creative and differentiated approaches to mitigate and eliminate gaps due to learning loss.
3. Dealing with the budget/financial impact from COVID-19. Roughly 82 percent of our funding comes from local sources. While most of these local revenue sources have weathered the Covid challenges, we are likely to see a significant impact from a commercial real estate perspective. This will require us to be even more efficient and creative in how we utilize our limited financial resources. I will continue to bring a Return-On-Investment mindset to financial discussions so we can prioritize investments needed to sustain and advance the educational objectives of the district

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?: I have the most experience of any candidate running for school board in Region 3. The district's academic performance and financial results during my time on the board speak for themselves. I also have the widest view into the district from a parent lens. All five of my children attend WCASD schools at all three levels — grade school, middle school, and high school — including one with an IEP. Serving as Board President for the past five years has provided me with unique insight into all aspects of the district and more importantly a clear understanding of the most critical challenges that lie ahead.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform: The other issues of my campaign platform center on a vision of the future which is based on the following anchor tenants:

• Continue the pursuit of academic excellence and preparation of students for the future by investing in the right people, programs, and technology.
• Maintain focus on strong fiscal stewardship and accountability by mitigating unnecessary financial and legal risks to the district via prudent decision-making that takes all students into account.
• Monitor and evolve school safety and cleanliness protocols to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff while providing choice in school instruction (in person or virtual).
• Develop next-generation leadership talent and build the necessary internal capacity in order to ensure the long-term success of the district given the significant number of pending retirements in many critical areas over the next few years.
• Promote a respectful atmosphere between board members, school administrators, teachers, and parents in order to drive meaningful results.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?: Making Student Success the top priority — Implemented full-day kindergarten, launched cyber academy and expanded blended enrollment classes which has increased WCASD’s market share of eligible students from 73 percent (2013) to 78 percent (2020). Highest in the district’s history. Maintaining the lowest tax rates in Chester County while renovating schools and building a new one. The FDK program has returned 268 students from charter schools yielding $2.3 million in revenue to the district.
Preserving academic excellence as demonstrated by all three WCASD high schools being consistently ranked among the top public schools in the nation according to U.S. News & World Reports, Newsweek, and Niche. Niche rating has improved from 38th to 27th out of 500 districts statewide.
Retaining the district’s AAA bond rating. WCASD is one of only 34 districts rated A+ and one of only 6 districts with a AAA bond rating out of 500 in the state. This results in cheaper borrowing costs and stronger property values.
Assisting our most vulnerable populations during the pandemic, the district has provided over 300,000 meals, and 170 hotspot internet devices were delivered and set up to families without access. Increased wellness checks for at-risk students.

The best advice ever shared with me was: Always follow your conscience, be true to yourself and those you represent and don’t get mired in negativity.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?: As I mentioned earlier, I have zero political aspirations nor do I serve any party's national agenda. I'm running again because I care about our students, staff, and community. My focus will remain on prioritizing the students and taxpayers of this district in every decision.

Chris McCune's campaign website can be viewed here.