March 16, 2016 - ChaddsFordLive.com

Police: Rapid response reduces fire damage

Police responded to a single-family residence in the 1100 block of South Chester Road in Westtown Township for an alarm activation that was upgraded to a working house fire on Wednesday, March 16, at 6:53 a.m., according to a press release from the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department.

Officers arrived on location to find the front half of the two-story home fully involved in fire, and police confirmed that the homeowner had evacuated without injury, the release said, adding that the immediate presence and teamwork of the responding fire departments resulted in a portion of the residence being spared from fire damage.

Fire companies from Chester and Delaware counties responded, including Goshen Fire Company, West Chester Fire Department, Paoli Fire Company, Malvern Fire Company, Medic 91, Concordville Fire Company, Newtown Square Fire Company, Lima Fire Company and Rocky Run Fire Company, the release said.

An investigation by the Chester County Fire Marshal’s Unit, Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal, and the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department was conducted, and the fire was ruled accidental and the cause was electrical. The fire originated in the front attic section of the residence above an in-home office.

Police said the homeowner was asleep in the residence and awoke to activation of smoke, fire, and burglar alarms. The homeowner walked through the residence, smelled smoke, and evacuated. Police said the incident underscores the importance of having working alarms.

The Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department notified the local schools and PennDOT that road closures would be in place during the fire investigation. Traffic in the area was impacted until noon when the fire crews cleared the scene, police said.

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Chesco DA sees spike in child-abuse reports

Local News, Local News Birmingham, Local News Kennett, Local News Pennsbury, Local News Pocopson

An analysis of Chester County child-abuse reports shows a more than a sixfold increase in the past fours years, District Attorney Tom Hogan announced on Wednesday, March 16.

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan says he has seen a dramatic increase in child-abuse reports.

“I have talked with my colleagues around Pennsylvania. They also are seeing tremendous growth in the number of child-abuse cases,” Hogan said in a press release. “In order to keep protecting children, we are going to have to devote more law-enforcement resources to child-abuse cases. This will require more investigators and prosecutors, but that is a small price to pay for the good of our children.”

Hogan said the yearly total of child-abuse reports in Chester County was 219 in 2012, 291 in 2013, 414 in 2014, and 1,306 in 2015. Based on reports to date for 2016, the District Attorney’s Office estimates 1,700 to 1,800 child-abuse reports for this upcoming year, he said.

“The explosive growth in child-abuse reports has been caused by three main factors. First, after the conviction of Jerry Sandusky in the high-profile Penn State case, overall awareness and sensitivity to child abuse has increased,” Hogan said in the release. “Second, changes to Pennsylvania law have expanded the types of incidents and categories of people that are required to report child abuse. Third, the District Attorney’s Office, with the support of the Chester County Commissioners, has increased the focus on child abuse, leading to more cases.”

Jerry Sandusky, an assistant football coach at Penn State, was convicted in 2012 of abusing multiple child victims and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. The investigation and conviction prompted sweeping changes to child-abuse laws in Pennsylvania in 2013 and 2014.

The new laws expanded the category of people considered “mandatory reporters,” who are required to report any suspected child abuse. Mandatory reporters now include all school employees, health care providers, child-care providers, clergy members, and other categories. Pennsylvania law also expanded the definition of “child abuse,” covering more activities,” the release said

Deputy District Attorney Deborah K. Ryan, who heads the Child Abuse Unit, says her office uses a multi-disciplinary approach to solving cases. — Deputy District Attorney Deborah Ryan, who heads the Child Abuse Unit, says her office uses a multi-disciplinary approach to solving cases.

The reports come to the District Attorney’s Office from the Department of Public Welfare and the Department of Children, Youth and Families. Every child-abuse report is reviewed by the Chester County District Attorney’s Office, then handled by the Chester County Detectives (the investigative arm of the District Attorney’s Office) or referred out to local law enforcement for investigation, the release said.

Chester County has experienced several recent high-profile child-abuse cases. In 2015, Warren Yerger was convicted of sexually abusing four children over the course of two decades and received a sentence of 339 to 690 years in prison. In 2014, Leroy K. Mitchell, a former corrections officer, received a 20- to 40-year sentence for molesting five victims: three foster children and two relatives.

Deputy District Attorney Deborah Ryan, the head of the Child Abuse Unit, said her office employs a multi-disciplinary approach. “We have outstanding investigators, health care professionals, and social service providers who work together to protect these children and pursue these predators,” she said.

Chief County Detective Kevin Dykes said his office had one sergeant and one detective assigned to child-abuse cases in 2011. He said Hogan reassigned a second detective in 2012, and, with the support of the Chester County Commissioners, added a third in 2014.

“Even with this increased staffing, our detectives and prosecutors are working incredibly hard with local police just to keep up with the caseload,” Dykes said in the release. “They know that they cannot let up even for a second, because a child could be hurt by any delay.”

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Decile rankings remain a major issue

School & Education

Decile ranking – whether to continue reporting it or not – remains a hot topic for the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board. Directors spent two hours of a four-hour meeting mulling over the issue with no resolution during their March 15 work session.

The board is scheduled to vote on the matter during its March 28 meeting.

Decile rankings compare students to others in their class using a scale of 1 to 10. A ranking of 1 indicates a student is in the top 10 percent of the class, a ranking of 5 indicates a student in the top 50 percent.

The district administration has proposed doing away with reporting the rankings because it said most colleges and universities don’t bother with them or don’t require them.

Superintendent John Sanville said that when the issue first surfaced last year, he didn’t see any reason to make a policy change until the administration started doing the research.

“That’s when I was convinced that it’s the right thing to do,” Sanville said.

He added that only the military academies and some high-end medical schools that allow students to begin medical training right after high school require rankings, and he said the service academies require the specific class ranking, not a decile.

Ken Batchelor, the assistant to the superintendent, headed the committee that recommended the policy change. The committee looked at high schools across the country and 27 colleges.

“Some of the colleges were surprised that we still rank,” Batchelor said.

He said that the emphasis on decile rankings as part of the admission process has declined. In 1993, 43 percent of colleges wanted those rankings, but by 2012 that was down to 19 percent.

He cited a report from Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Illinois as one of the reasons for the recommendation. That school stopped reporting the rankings in 2005 after going through the same process U-CFSD is going through now.

Batchelor said Stevenson went to the state schools and large universities, with a list of students, some of whom had been accepted and others rejected when rankings were provided, and asked those schools to review them again without ranking this time.

The result, he said, was that more students would have been accepted if ranking had not been a factor.

During the Feb. 22 meeting, School Board Directors Gregg Lindner and Michael Rock went on record as wanting to drop reporting the rankings while others, such as Elise Anderson and Bob Sage, have said they see both advantages and disadvantages.

This month, Sage said some research suggests about 15 percent of the colleges said they place a great amount of emphasis on decile rankings as an admission factor, 35 percent place a moderate amount.

“The rest of the 50 percent are either low or none,” Sage said.

Director John Murphy asked questions to put the discussion in context: “Without providing the decile, how do colleges see the value of the GPA that our students earn? How does a 4.1 at Unionville compare to a 5.2 at Conestoga?”

Board President Vic Dupuis, who attended the meeting remotely from Florida, said he had come full circle in his thinking, that he initially accepted the administration’s recommendation.

“There was a lot of logic. But then I began listening to several community members [who want to keep the reporting] and started to go the other way because I heard the emotional frustration of the top decile parent as they expressed concerns about the loss of recognition,” Dupuis said.

“But as I continue to read the literature…provided by both sides and, as I’ve done some of my own research…I don’t hear a compelling argument that there is damage by eliminating the decile rankings for the top decile; I’m not seeing something being taken away from the top decile,” he said.

Dupuis added that he’s only seeing potential harm to students who are not in the top decile by continuing to report the rankings. What ultimately matters, he said, are a student’s grade-point-average, entrance exam scores, college essays and extra-curricular activities.

Rock, a professor at Bryn Mawr College, said he spoke with admissions officers at Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and Haverford, and all told him that it’s “the norm that schools no longer rank. We have to cope with that, rest assured, that Unionville students will not be discriminated against because we don’t do ranking,” he said.

Director Carolyn Daniels said colleges should see “some markers, some context” of how a grade-point-average compares from one school to another.

Murphy said he’s heard from constituents who say the rankings should not be removed without something taking their place.

One possibility is that of a distribution. Sanville said one type of distribution could be reporting the grade-point-average with a percentage of how many students fall within a given grade range, such as 27 percent had an A average and so forth.

The proposed police change may be amended before the March 28 meeting to include some sort of distribution.

Other business

• The board will vote next month on awarding bids for renovation work at Charles F. Patton Middle School. According to Supervisor of Building and Grounds Rick Hostetler, general construction, mechanical and electrical improvements and roofing will cost $2.34 million. The district had budgeted $2.225 million.

•Directors will also be considering extending the Chrome Book pilot program to all sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students. Several options are being considered.
One option would be to give the portable computers to students at no cost, but Batchelor said that would add about $239,000 to the budget. Another option would be to charge a fee of $75 per year for the Chrome Books. Students would be able to take them home after school and in the summer, and then own them after 3 ½ years.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

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Members of the Garnet Valley Educational Support Professionals Association and their supporters assemble with placards outlining their position on outsourcing before Tuesday night's school board meeting.

GV school board faces outsourcing protest

School & Education

The Garnet Valley Educational Support Professionals Association (GVESPA) delivered a petition with 1,500 signatures to the Garnet Valley School Board at its meeting on Tuesday, March 15.

Parent Hal addresses the Garnet Valley School Board. — Parent Hal Dugan tells the the Garnet Valley School Board how much he values the support staff.

Signees of the petition object to the board’s consideration of outsourcing the district jobs of school custodian, lunchroom worker and bus driver. Union members, parents, teachers and support employees from other school districts came out in force for the meeting, holding signs that said “No outsourcing. Strong jobs = stable schools” and wearing shirts with the slogan “I’m 1 of 144” (the number of threatened jobs) on the front and “Yes, I’m critical” on the back.

Speaking outside before the meeting, GVESPA President Tina Jaep explained that she understands that the district is trying to cut costs, but is troubled by the negative fallout that such a move would have.

“Giving up control of who works in the district and the safety of the students are two concerns,” she said. “The people in these positions have direct contact with our students. How do we know what training, clearances and drug tests outsourced employees would have?”

Jaep said she also worries that outsourcing will result in a transient workforce because of lower wages and lack of benefits required for stability.

Members wore shirts in solidarity — Members of he Garnet Valley Educational Support Professionals Association wear shirts in solidarity.

Craig Thomas, standing with his colleagues outside before the meeting, has been a bus driver with the district for 15 years, the last six on the same route. “I know all the kids, and they know me,” he said, adding that familiarity with the driver raises the comfort level for students and parents.

Charlie Shaffer, the field representative for the Pennsylvania State Education Association’s (PSEA) southeast region, joined the group waiting for the meeting to start. Shaffer has been at the bargaining table with the district’s representatives. He said, “We’re working with a good administrative team; they’re very respectful and open to looking for a resolution.” Shaffer hopes he and the GVESPA bargaining team can convince the district that outsourcing positions won’t save that much money and would have an adverse effect on the community.

Once inside, district support jobs supporters filled the chairs and many more stood in the back. Several parents spoke up at the meeting.

Tina addresses the Garnet Valley School Board. — Tina Jaep, president of the Garnet Valley Educational Support Professionals Association, addresses the school board.

Hal Dugan expressed how much his family appreciates the support staff at school. “As a parent, seeing the same support staff daily assures me the schools are safe and stable,” he said. He reminded the audience of what happened in Flint, Mi., when their well-meaning city council switched water supplies to save money and the cost the community is now paying, both monetarily and with their health. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he concluded.

Janet Dwyer gave an impassioned speech against outsourcing and ended by telling the board, “You just reported on improvements to our school cafeteria. I would rather have a safe school than a shiny, new cafeteria.”

Before presenting the petition and signatures, Jaep urged the board “to abandon this troubling idea and find ways to keep our schools stable and put the interests of our students above all.” She also noted that some of the support staffers “have dedicated their entire lives to this district; their kids went here, and their grandkids go here, have you considered what your outsourcing threat will do to them?”

There was no comment from the board nor discussion following the petition presentation and parents’ comments.

At the conclusion of the meeting, PSEA Regional Advisory Coordinator Zeek Weil handed out lawn signs for people to take home, recognizing that those protesting outsourced jobs know they have more work to do before the issue is resolved in their favor.

About Lora B. Englehart

Lora has a passion for art, gardening, yoga, music and dancing. She continues to research the life of locally born abolitionist and 1998 National Women's Hall of Fame inductee Mary Ann Shadd Cary. She is a dedicated community volunteer, working with the American Association of University Women, Wilmington, DE branch (programs chair), Chadds Ford Historical Society (former board member) and Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art. Lora lives in Birmingham Township with her husband Bill and son Brad. Daughter Erika lives in Pittsburgh with husband Bob and baby Wilhelmina. She is a former French, Spanish and ESL teacher, bilingual life insurance underwriter and public relations coordinator for Delaware Art Museum and Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.

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Police Log March 16: Stolen cars, pursuit, DUIs

Police

• State police from the Avondale barracks said Daniel Clymer, 25, of Philadelphia, stole a 2002 Subaru from Delaware County on March 10 and drove it to Peale Drive in Pocopson Township, then entered the rear of a house after the homeowner told him to leave. When confronted by the homeowner again, he left that house and drove the stolen car to another home and entered an open garage on Ayer Court. There, police said, he found keys to a Mercedes Benz and stole that car. Police pursued Clymer as he drove into Lancaster County where more police joined the pursuit. He eventually returned to Chester County where he was arrested on multiple charges after the car ran out of gas on the Route 30 Bypass.

• Two men, sought for driving a stolen vehicle, eluded police after they fled from a traffic stop on Route 202. Pennsylvania State Police said the two, both white, between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 150 to 170 pounds, drove into Delaware where they abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.

• Rodney Leslie Boddy Jr., of Newark, is accused of stealing almost $500 worth of merchandise from the Walmart in East Marlborough Township at 3:57 p.m. on March 13, according to a police report.

• State police arrested Ryan Matthew Donnelly, 25, of Coatesville, following a traffic stop on Wawaset Road in Pocopson Township on March 11 at 9:33 a.m. He was then found to be in possession of cocaine, marijuana, Percocet and related paraphernalia.

• A police report said Michael Gregory McGraw, 19, of West Chester, was found to possess a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia following an encounter on East Baltimore Pike in East Marlborough Township on March 15 at 1:30 p.m.

• On March 11, state police arrested Dervan Curtis and Jahmoni Lucky Cheriza, both of Philadelphia, following a traffic stop on northbound Route 1 at Route 82. The report said Curtis was arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana and Cheriza arrested for possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

• Shane K. Rivera, 31, of Nottingham, was cited after failing to yield the right of way to another vehicle on Route 1 at Brandywine Drive on March 11, police said. According to the report, Rivera was driving north in Route 1 and attempted a left hand turn onto Brandywine Drive and struck another vehicle that had the right of way. No injuries were reported.

• A West Chester man was charged with harassment following a March 10 altercation in Chadds Ford Township. State police said Tomasz Kowalski, 26, hit a person in the face with a set of car keys on Oakland Road.

• Someone took a purse from an unlocked car parked on Glover Road in Concord Township between 6 p.m. on March 9 and 6:30 a.m. on March 10. Police said the purse was found nearby, but several gift cards were stolen.

• Dean Pagano, 48, of Thornton, was arrested for DUI after he crashed into a utility pole and rolled his vehicle on Concord Road, a police report said. The accident happened at 3:12 a.m. on March 11.

• Someone broke into two construction boxes at the Maris Grove construction site and stole various tools sometime between 6 p.m. on March 9 and 7 a.m. on March 10.

• A police report said Andrew H. Hemme, 31, of Kennett Square, was charged with a violation concerning a controlled substance after he was involved in a one-car accident on Route 202 in Chadds Ford on March 8. The report said Hemme was driving south on Route 202 when traffic in front of him stopped for the light at Route 1. He hit the brake too late and swerved to the right, struck the traffic island, ran up and over the island, coming to rest back in the roadway and blocking traffic, according to the report. No injuries were reported.

• Joseph Piechule, 20, of Garnet Valley, was arrested for DUI on March 1 after he crashed into an embankment on Brinton Lake Road at Spring Valley Road at 4:38 a.m., a police report said.

• Clemente Trigueros, 48, of Kennett Square, was arrested for DUI following a March 9 traffic stop in New Garden Township, according to Pennsylvania State Police. The report said the stop was made at 12:29 p.m. on Baltimore Pike, east of Penn Green Road.

• State police said Shalil Mashay Reynolds, of Wilmington, was arrested for DUI and possession of a marijuana roach and paraphernalia. The arrest was made just after midnight on March 10 on Route 1 northbound at Route 82, according to the report.

• State police said Claudia Wells, 18, was arrested for DUI after a Feb. 28 traffic stop on Route 322 at Clayton Park.

• New Garden Township police arrested Israel Salinas-Beltran, 37, of Oxford, for DUI on March 5, a report said. He was stopped for traffic violations after officers saw him weaving through traffic.

• State police from the Embreeville barracks reported a two-vehicle accident on Embreeville Road, south of Brandywine Creek Road in Newlin Township on Monday, March 7, at 4:04 p.m. Police said Heather L. Childs, 53, of Coatesville, rear-ended a 2000 Chevrolet Blazer. No injuries were reported, and police said Childs, whose 2006 Chrysler Town and Country had to be towed, was cited for following too closely.

• State police said they observed a speeding vehicle on Pottstown Pike at Taylors Mill Road in West Goshen Township on Saturday, March 12, at 1:04 a.m. Following a traffic stop, David G. Cruz-Quinones was taken into custody for suspected DUI, police said.

• Another speeding vehicle led to a DUI arrest on Sunday, March 13, at 3:12 a.m. on Pottstown Pike at Primrose Road in West Goshen Township, state police said. Stephen P. Schurtz, 28, of West Chester, was taken into custody after exhibiting signs of intoxication, police said.

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Hudson River School of Art to be showcased

Arts & Entertainment

Masterworks by Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, John F. Kensett, William T. Richards, William L. Sonntag, and other giants of the Hudson River School will be on view at the Brandywine River Museum of Art from March 19 through June 12.

'Niagara Falls,' an 1818 painting by Louisa Davis Minot, is one of the Hudson Valley works featured in the new exhibit at the Brandywine River Museum of Art. Photo courtesy of the museum — ‘Niagara Falls,’ an 1818 painting by Louisa Davis Minot, is one of the Hudson River works featured in the new exhibit at the Brandywine River Museum of Art. Photo courtesy of the museum

Organized by the New York Historical Society from its vast holdings of works by the Hudson River School, “The Poetry of Nature: A Golden Age of American Landscape Painting” features over 40 paintings created between 1818 and 1886, according to a Brandywine River Museum of Art press release.

More than 25 celebrated American artists, also including Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Chambers, Sanford Gifford, Thomas H. Hotchkiss, Jervis McEntee, Louisa Minot, Francis A. Silva and Josephine Walters, will be represented in the exhibition. The Hudson River School is considered the first art movement in the country and one that developed a distinctly American vision of the landscape, the release said.

These artists were inspired to explore the landscape by the writers of their time whose stories, essays and poems extolled the pristine, primeval quality and symbolic virtue of America’s natural beauty. Hudson River artists’ powerful interpretations of American scenery are illuminated in the exhibition’s arrangement highlighting the regions they frequently painted – along the Hudson River, through the Catskill Mountains and other regions of New York, and beyond to New England and the mid-Atlantic states.

The boundless vistas, stately forests, magnificent mountains, gleaming rivers and lakes, and luminous skies the Hudson River School artists created in their paintings shaped national and cultural identity not only for their own time, but also formed an enduring legacy for future generations.

The Brandywine River Museum of Art features an outstanding collection of American art housed in a 19th-century mill building with a dramatic steel and glass addition overlooking the banks of the Brandywine. Open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas, the museum is located on Route 1 in Chadds Ford. For more information, call 610-388-2700 or visit brandywinemuseum.org. Starting on March 19, the museum will extend its hours slightly – from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Kennett superintendent joins library board

Local News, Local News Kennett, Local News Pennsbury, Local News Pocopson

The Kennett Public Library Board of Trustees began its monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 15, by voting unanimously to add a 12^th member.

The board then welcomed Kennett Consolidated School District Supt. Barry Tomasetti to the group. Tomasetti, a father of three who lives in the Landenberg area, said he believes the library has benefitted the community in many ways. “It’s my pleasure to serve,” he said.

Board President Tom Swett reported that he and Vice President Jeff Yetter have met with the Home & Garden Tour Committee, which organizes the annual fundraiser for the library, and plan to continue doing so. “We want to show them how we value what they do for us,” Swett said.

Yetter said in addition to the promised 24 bottles of wine from the board for raffle baskets, the committee is seeking volunteers for the popular June 4 event. He said board members could sign up for four-hour shifts in the morning or afternoon for a variety of duties including serving as docents or parking attendants. He said the tour generated more than $30,000 for the library last year.

Treasurer Bill McLachlan reported that the library has been operating “above water” for two months. He said the adult literary program is only slightly in the red. “We have a cash hill to take us into March,” he said, cautioning that the library still needs to address a $75,000 deficit in the 2016 budget.

McLachlan noted that the library is fortunate that past boards created a reserve fund; however, it is “not an endless pit” and should be used only as a last resort.

Swett said the library is working hard to take advantage of grant opportunities. He said Filomena Elliott, who heads the Adult Literacy Program, gave an excellent presentation to United Way recently. “Filomena conducted herself with aplomb,” he said.

He also praised Yetter for quickly galvanizing support from all eight municipalities the library serves — the Borough of Kennett Square and East Marlborough, Kennett, Newlin, New Garden, Pennsbury, Pocopson, and West Marlborough townships – to apply for a Vision Partnership Program grant from Chester County, one that had a tight March 1 deadline.

Yetter pointed out that it was a team effort that included other board members as well as Carl Francis, a strategist hired by the board last month. The board enlisted Francis’s services to assist with issues such as the name change in April from the Bayard Taylor Memorial Library to the Kennett Public Library – a decision that incurred the wrath of some patrons and donors.

Making his annual visit to the board, Joseph L. Sherwood, executive director of the Chester County Library System, added that funds might also be available for the library through Keystone Grants or through Sen. Andy Dinniman.

Board member Carolyn Nicander-Mohr, who heads the library’s New Building Committee, said the group’s last meeting provided an education for the committee on selecting an architect for a long-awaited new building. More than a decade ago, stakeholders for the library recognized that the well-used facility had outgrown its space in the 200 block of East State Street, but the path to new construction has proven daunting.

Mohr said Donna Murray, the library’s director, described the extensive vetting process, including numerous site visits, which ultimately led to the choice of Lukmire Partnership, Inc. by a previous board.

Mohr said that Jim Nelson, an architect serving on the committee, provided insight into what should go into an architect’s contract, which has not yet been signed. She said she hoped Nelson would be able to attend a meeting that would be scheduled with Lukmire.

Swett said Francis, who meets with the executive board every Monday, is working on a presentation for about 150 invitees. Swett said Francis would explain the process that would be used to select the library’s name. After a reminder from several board members that the whole board needs to sign off on the presentation, Swett changed the date from April 5 to April 12.

Stressing that the session is “not a focus group,” Swett said the list of participants would include past donors, supervisors, borough council members, Historic Kennett Square and its subcommittee. Once the library’s name is finalized, the board will receive the library’s first-ever annual report, Yetter said.

In her monthly report, Murray said that the library is working with People’s Light & Theatre Company in Malvern, which is presenting an adaptation of Linda Sue Park’s Newbery Award-winning novel “A Single Shard.” She said the library is also seeking sponsors to assist the library in a shredding event on April 23, the library’s contribution to a borough cleanup day.

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