Radnor hires new schools chief from Unionville-Chadds Ford
Kenneth Batchelor, assistant superintendent in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, has been appointed to the top job in the Radnor Township system on the Main Line.
Kenneth Batchelor, assistant superintendent in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, has been appointed to the top job in the Radnor Township system on the Main Line.
Unionville-Chadds Ford, which occupies an affluent slice of Chester County, is among the top-performing districts in Pennsylvania, with the third-highest SAT scores and the number-one-ranked high school on the state Department of Education's School Performance Profile this year.
The Radnor school board awarded Batchelor a five-year contract at an initial salary of $220,000 per year starting on Jan. 30, with 15 days as a consultant at $842.91 daily between Nov. 29 and Jan. 27.
Batchelor, 45, was a history teacher and assistant principal at Unionville before taking a job as principal at Penncrest High School in Rose Tree Media School District in Delaware County in 2005. He returned to Unionville two years later as assistant superintendent.
Radnor's former superintendent, Michael Kelly, stepped down in August after three years on the job. Kelly had come from another Main Line district, Lower Merion Township, before being hired by Radnor.
Batchelor earned a political science degree from Villanova University and a master's in education from the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a doctoral candidate in educational leadership at Widener University.
The Radnor board said it considered more than 40 candidates before making its choice.
Both Unionville and Radnor are small, elite districts that serve mostly wealthy communities. Unionville has 4,000 students with one high school, one middle and four elementary schools. Radnor has 3,695 students with one high school, one middle and three elementary schools.
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