Joins UCF from Tredyffrin-Easttown district; top pick out of 120 applicants
By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com
Timothy Hoffman
POCOPSON — Patton Middle School will have a new leader this fall: the Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education unanimously voted Monday night to appoint Timothy Hoffman as the school’s new principal, effective July 1.
Hoffman, who will replace the retiring Bruce Vosburgh, will become only the third principal in school history. Charles S. Patton, for whom the school is named led the school from its opening in 1972 until 1992, with Vosburgh leading the school since.
“There have only been two principals in the history of Patton Middle School,” said Dr. John Sanville, the district’s Superintendent of Schools. “So when you look for the third, you want to make sure you do it right.”
Hoffman was introduced to the community during the school board meeting at Pocopson Elementary School, after gaining formal approval from the board.
Hoffman, he said, just kept coming to the forefront — as one of 120 applicants for the job and just 12 who were ultimately interviewed. Throughout a process that included focus groups, a mixed group of parents, staff and community residents to serve as an interview board and even a visit to Hoffman’s current school, he stood out.
“Tim’s name bubbled up to the top at every stage,” Sanville said.
Currently the Assistant Principal at the Valley Forge Middle School in the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District, Hoffman has also served in that role at Tredyffrin-Easttown Middle School as well as a pair of schools in the Montgomery County Public School System in Maryland. In total, Hoffman comes to Patton with seven years of administrative experience, and has had more than a passing interest in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District before ever applying for job in the district.
“When we moved up here from Maryland, we decided that we wanted to move to the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and have our kids come here,” said Hoffman, who has three children, not yet of school age. He and his wife Whitney moved from Baltimore to their current home in Pocopson in 2008.
Hoffman said he recognizes that he has something of a tough act to follow, with Vosburgh and Patton the only other principals in school history.
“It is quite a legacy,” he said. “I’m looking forward to learning a lot from Bruce and Jim (Assistant Principal and veteran district administrator Fulginetti).”
Hoffman did his undergraduate work at the University of Maryland and holds a Master of Science from Johns Hopkins. He is currently in the doctoral program at Immaculata University.
Great guy, great administrator (I worked with him at VFMS).
Good luck and welcome to Principal Hoffman. Our community is thrilled to have you here!