July 7, 2015

Calling the head of a private school in Thornbury Township “every parent’s nightmare,” Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced the filing of charges against him that include corruption of minors and indecent assault.

On Tuesday, July 7, Hogan and the Westtown-East Goshen Police Department said George J. Symonds, 62, of Wilmington, De., was arrested for allegedly fostering an illicit relationship with a male teenage student at the Concept School.

Symonds served as the head of school – the equivalent of principal – and a teacher at the time of the offenses, Hogan said. Symonds was terminated by the Concept School, which is cooperating fully with law enforcement, Hogan said.

The investigation began on June 29 when the Westtown-East Goshen Police Department interviewed the victim, who said Symonds communicated with him almost daily through text messages, emails, and telephone calls when he was in eighth and ninth grade, ages 14 and 15, according to the criminal complaint. The time frame was May 2014 to February 2015, the complaint said.

Among the inappropriate activities detailed in the complaint Symonds told the victim he loved him, arranged to meet the victim in his office and in the bathroom to “hug” on numerous occasions, made lewd advances and remarks, and told the victim “not to fight the love.”  He also told the victim to delete all electronic communications between the two, the complaint said.

Three weeks prior to his interview with detectives, the victim told Symonds that “he did not want to be involved with Symonds and that what he did was wrong,” the complaint said. Symonds apologized and told the victim not to tell anyone about their relationship because “he could go to jail,” the complaint said.

Symonds, who holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in religion from the Lancaster Theological Seminary, had been a teacher at the Concept School since 2004 and the head of school since 2012; before that, he taught at the Delaware County Community College and the Delaware Technical Community College, as well as schools in Massachusetts, according to the Concept School’s website.

“This defendant had access to other children, both here in Chester County and in other locations,” said Hogan in the release.  “As always with a case like this, we are concerned that there may be other victims.”

Anyone with further information is asked to contact Westtown-East Goshen Detective Jason Large at 610-692-9600.

Symonds, who waived extradition, was arraigned on Friday, July 3. After posting 10 percent of $100,000 bail, he was released to await a preliminary hearing on Thursday, July 9, in West Goshen district court, court records said.

The Concept School, located at the intersection of Route 926 and Westtown Road, specializes in teaching middle and high school students “who have difficulty focusing in class, struggle with reading comprehension, find social interaction difficult, or for those who seek a small school environment,” according to its website.

 

 

Birmingham Township supervisors have temporarily tabled a decision on whether to accept the township’s Historic and Architectural Review Board recommendation for a new home on Birmingham Road.

The property, at 1236 Birmingham Road, near Meetinghouse Road across from the Birmingham Friends Meeting and the Lafayette Cemetery, lies within the historic district. Construction requires HARB recommendation and supervisors’ approval before a Certificate of Appropriateness may be issued.

Supervisors’ Chairman John Conklin said the board needs more detailed information from HARB before making a decision. Township code requires HARB to issue a written report covering nine points.

Conklin said the board would have HARB’s written report before the August supervisors’ meeting.

Property owners Anthony Divers and Michelle Thompson did not attend the July 6 Board of Supervisors’ meeting, but Doug and Catherine Marshall, who live on Meetinghouse Road at Birmingham, did attend.

According to a letter from the Marshalls’ attorney, Patrick McKenna, the applicants already demolished a 2,500-square-foot dwelling and want to build a new home twice the size with an attached four-car garage on the 5.6-acre site.

McKenna’s letter says the proposed size “is not in character with the Birmingham Road Corridor nor consistent with the specific guidelines of the historic district” and that the proposal does not show proper landscaping that would protect vistas in accord with those same guidelines.

Another neighboring property owner is the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art. The conservancy bought 103 acres from the Odell family in 2008 to preserve the site known as Birmingham Hill, part of the location of the Sept. 11, 1777, Battle of Brandywine during the War of Independence.

Associate Director David Shield also wrote a letter to the supervisors expressing conservancy concerns.

Shields’ letter says the conservancy is “very concerned about the visual impact on both the Birmingham Meeting House and Birmingham Hill” and that supervisors should have the applicants use “best efforts to protect all existing landscaping trees” along the two streets in question.

Other business

• In a brief, 12-minute, conditional use hearing prior to the regular meeting, the board heard — and approved — a request from Infinity of West Chester for a 2,000-square-foot, two-story, accessory building to be used for storage.
• Supervisors also voted to spend another $1,000 this year for new containers for and pickup of dog waste at Sandy Hollow Heritage Park.