Chester Upland School District

Chester Upland School District
Address
1720 Melrose Avenue Chester, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 19013 United States
Information
Superintendent	Gregory E. Thornton, Ed.D.
Grades	K-12
Mascot	Clippers
Website	http://www.chesteruplandsd.org/

The Chester Upland School District is a public school district serving the City of Chester, the Borough of Upland and Chester Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The district operates one High School, two Middle Schools and five Elementary Schools, serving 5019 students.

Recent history

In 1994, Chester Upland was named by the state as the worst-performing school district in Pennsylvania. The district had a multimillion dollar deficit and its decision-making ability was taken over by the state. A for-profit company, Edison Schools, was hired to try to improve the struggling district's test scores. After a number of years it was determined that Edison was not successful in turning the district around. A number of incidents, including an allegation of sexual misconduct on the part of an Edison employee, and policies such as not allowing students to bring home books, led to the state's decision to break its contract with Edison.

The district has regained local public control, but remains one of the lowest performing in Pennsylvania. 72% of district students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, as compared to the state average of 33%. In recent years it has opened a number of selective-admission magnet schools.

Schools

High schools

• Chester High School (Chester)
• Science and Discovery High School (Chester)
• Smedley Allied Health School (Chester)

Primary schools

• Christopher Columbus Elementary School (Chester)
• Main Street Elementary School (Upland)
• Margaret C. Stetser Elementary School (Chester)
• The Village (Chester)
• Toby Farms Elementary School (Chester Township)
• Chester Upland School for the Arts (opened in 2008, plans to become a K-8 school)^[1]

Turnaround School District

School district officials applied for the Race to the Top federal grant. The district is identified as a turnaround district due to chronically poor academic achievement of its students. When approved for the grant, the district will receive millions of additional federal dollars for improving student academic achievement. Turnaround status also brings an extra $700 per student, in supplemental funding above the basic grant amount.^[2]

References

1. ^ "The Chester Fund." Chester Upland School for the Arts. Retrieved on March 30, 2009.
2. ^ Pennsylvania's 'Race to the Top' Fueled by Effective Reforms, Strong Local Support, Pennsylvania Department of Education, January 20, 2010

External links

• Chester Upland School District
• "After Bailout, Privatization, School District Starts Over", ABC
• District Profile from greatschools.net