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Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 153, No. 10
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
U-CF hosts tough conversation about student depression, alcohol and drug use By JP Phillips Correspondent The mood was somber as members of the UnionvilleChadds Ford administration reviewed data on student mental illness, alcohol and drug usage in front of a handful of community members on Feb. 27 in the Patton Middle School auditorium. The Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) is a statewide questionnaire distributed by districts to 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders every two years. District and charter school use is voluntary, as is student participation. Statewide, 973 of 1,666 schools participated. All 12 Chester County school districts took part, and around half of those students completed the survey. The questions are designed to provide data that helps communities identify and address root causes of potentially dangerous behavior. The most recent report is from the fall of 2017.
Questions on sadness and self-worth were designed to uncover potential mental health issues. On average, U-CF middle and high school students self-reported that 26 percent felt sad or depressed most days over the past 12 months. Patton Middle School responses showed a gradual rise every two years, from an average of 15 percent in 2011. The district takes no solace in the fact that U-CF actually measured more favorably than both the county and the state. Statewide, 40 percent of 10th and 12th graders reported sadness or depression most days. “That’s a mental health crisis in the commonwealth, in my opinion,” said school superintendent John Saville. Regarding the district’s students, “one in four students walking around feeling this way is heartbreaking,” he added. Director of Pupil Services Leah Reider talked about risks for suicide. The survey
asked students about stopping regular activities due to sadness. It also asked if suicide was considered, planned or actually attempted. Since students self-reported, answers depended on how they personally interpreted the question. The survey showed that 12 percent of 10th graders reported that they considered suicide, and 4 to 5 percent in grades 8, 10, and 12 attempted suicide. “So, looking at a typical class of 8th graders, there is someone in the room who has indicated they attempted suicide,” Reider said. Again, U-CF compared on the lower side to both the county and state. In 2017, half of high school seniors reported drinking over the past 30 days (which was higher than county and state averages). Seventeen percent of 10th graders, 7 percent of 8th graders, and 4 percent of 6th graders also reported alcohol use. Of the students who did drink, one Continued on Page 6A
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Lydia Munoz, pastor of the Church of the Open Door in Kennett Square, led her congregation at a special service on March 2 that expressed unity against the United Methodist Church’s recent ruling that opposes same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy.
Township leaders share ideas at community visioning event By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer Students bring robots to compete...4B
INDEX Opinion.......................7A Obituaries...................2B Calendar of Events.....3B Classifieds.................6B
© 2007 The Chester County Press
Into the arena of technology
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Sophia Lentz, an 8th-grader at Penn’s Grove Middle School and a member of the Oxford Robotics team, carries her team’s robot into competition at the Pennsylvania State Robotic FIRST Tech Challenge, held March 2-3 at the Oxford Area High School on March 2-3. For a complete story and additional photos, see Page 4B.
Congregation stands in solidarity against United Methodist Church By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Scenes of Chester County on display...1B
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Representatives from five London Grove Township committees shared their ideas with the township’s supervisors on Feb. 28, the content of which will be absorbed into the township’s Community Vision Plan. Held as a means of getting separate groups on the same page of township initiatives, accomplishments and needs, the two-hour session included 18 members from the Parks & Recreation Board, the Emergency Services Committee, the Open Space Committee, the Golf Course Advisory Committee and the township’s Planning Commission.
The Community Vision Plan will be shared with township residents, promotes a shared understanding and acrossthe-board vision by employing its leaders as stakeholders in the township’s future, by identifying and creating an idealistic balance of the community’s values and needs, and addressing emerging trends and issues. “I thought, ‘Do we all have the same common thoughts of where this township should go, and have we had any conversations about where it should go?’” said board chairman Richard Scott-Harper at the beginning of the meeting. “That led us to directing [Township Manager] Ken Continued on Page 2A
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Late in the afternoon of March 2, 40 Methodist parishioners gathered at the Friends Meeting House in Kennett Square to wrap their collective arms in unity against a decision recently made by the leaders of their denomination – one they found appalling, discriminatory and against the principles of their faith. Led by Pastor Lydia Munoz, the Church of the Open Door held “I Will Not Bow Down,” a Holy Communion ceremony that stood in solidarity
with the LGBTQ community, in response to the United Methodist Church’s General Conference in St. Louis on Feb. 26, where by a vote of 438 to 384, church delegates from around the world voted to maintain the church’s Traditional Plan, which rejects same-sex marriages in the church, and does not permit members of the LBGTQ community to serve as clergy. With their vote, delegates rejected the One Church Plan, a measure that would have eased restrictions on LGBTQ clergy and samesex marriages, and allowed
individual churches to decide how they handle issues of same-sex weddings and the sexuality of their clergy. Of the delegates who voted, 43 percent are not United States citizens, and most of that percentage are from African nations with laws against homosexuality. Almost immediately, shock waves of protest from Methodists reverberated worldwide about the decision, which included a comment by the Rev. Tom Berlin of Virginia, who compared the decision to a virus Continued on Page 6A
Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce hands out its annual awards Scott Brown, McCormick Orthodontics, and the Eli Seth Matthews Leukemia Foundation receive awards for making a difference in the community By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer In a room filled with public servants, business owners who give back to the community, and people who work for the greater good of many, there was no shortage of worthy candidates to receive the Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce’s three top awards—the Citizen of the Year, Business of the Year, and Organization of the Year. At the Chamber’s annual awards dinner and dance on March 2, awards were handed out to McCormick Orthodontics, Scott Brown, and the Eli Seth Matthews
Courtesy photo
The recipients of the awards during the Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner and dance.
Leukemia Foundation— three unquestionably worthy recipients for this year’s honors. Kim Jarvis, the president of the Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce board, welcomed the attendees to the event, saying that
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there was a strong sense of civic pride among longtime business owners and professionals, as well as new business owners who are a part of the Oxford business community. “We couldn’t be more
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Continued on Page 2A
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