Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 151, No. 13
‘They’re afraid to move now’
Attorney counsels Hispanic community through increased deportation efforts
60 Cents
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Avon Grove celebrates INSIDE the state champions By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer The cheers were deafening and then grew even louder as the Avon Grove High School girls’ swimming and diving team entered the school gymnasium Tuesday morning to celebrate its PIAA AAA state championship victory. A drumline and a full squad of cheerleaders encouraged the crowd to reach new heights of enthusiasm.
As they walked to a podium set up on the far side of the gym, each swimmer smiled brightly as the crowd showed its appreciation for the extraordinary accomplishments that brought home the first state championship in swimming and diving in school history. The path to the gym that morning already included stops at each of the district’s schools for the athletes to soak up the accolades. But, in real-
ity, the path to this stage and this moment started many years earlier and involved countless hours of hard work and sacrifice by each person and their families. This crowning accomplishment was years in the making, even if the swimmers’ success came in quick bursts of greatness measured in tenths of a second. They assembled—likely for one of the last times— Continued on Page 2A
Brandywine Hills Point-toPoint slated April 2...6A
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Immigration and nationality law attorney Lindsey Sweet of Sweet & Paciorek, LLC.
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer June 16, 2015: Announcing his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States, Donald Trump tells the crowd gathered at Trump Tower, “When Mexico sends its people, they are not sending their best. They are not sending you. They are sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to
us. They are bringing drugs and they are bringing crime, and they’re rapists.” November 8, 2016: Trump defeats Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. January 20, 2017: Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. January 25, 2017: Trump signs an executive order regarding detention of undocumented immigrants. Continued on Page 3A
Home & Garden special section
Photo by Steven Hoffman
Avon Grove celebrated the swimming and diving team’s 2017 PIAA AAA state championship on Tuesday, March 28. Head coach Kelly Burk and assistant coach Chic McKnelly were honored along with team members Emma Brinton, Sophie May, Olivia Paoletti, Serena Derderian, Clare McGovern, Rabea Pfaff, Sydney Paglia and Isabella Paoletti.
Bayard Taylor’s life of accomplishment...8A
Public input sought on delayed school start time With a huge volume of data that says letting adolescents sleep later can improve their school performance, the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District is giving the public one more chance to make their feelings known at an upcoming town hall meeting. The issue was raised in 2015 by a student panel that approached the administration about pushing back school start times to better align with the natural sleep cycles of teens. Since then, there has been a district presentation by sleep expert
Dr. Judith Owens, and committees have solicited input from other school districts across the nation that have moved to later start times and seen results in student alertness and achievement. At a Feb. 13 meeting of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board, assistant superintendent John Nolen, who is serving on the committee studying the issue, told the board, “We’re looking at a 25-minute shift in the school day. That would have middle and high school starting at about 8 a.m., and we feel we can get the elementaries to a 9:10 start and a 3:40 dismissal, which is about
Thank you, John Ware! By Uncle Irvin The only reason Uncle Irvin came to Oxford in 1970 was to purchase the Chester County Press from John H. Ware III. At that time, Ware lived in Oxford and was running the family’s natural gas businesses. He was a state Senator and went on to become a Congressman. Most of us didn’t know it then, but John Ware was a billionaire. However, we all came to know Ware and his family’s philanthropic character. John’s philanthropic achievements really blossomed after his death. Carrying the torch was Ware’s wife, Marian, and his children, particularly daughters Marilyn and Carol Ware Gates. Their latest generous gift was to Cochranvillebased Canine Partners for Life, for the Marian S. Ware Service Center, which is now under construction. The new facility will become the hub of Canine Partners for Life’s activities. Public fundraising for the next phase of the Canine Partners for Life expansion is ongoing. Continued on Page 2A
15 minutes later on both ends. “The cost of the plan would be between $30,000 and $40,000,” Nolen continued. “To make the bus runs in the afternoon, we have to possibly add some bus driver time on the runs. It’s not adding new staff or new equipment, but increasing some of the drivers’ time. So it’s not an inexpensive plan, but it’s not as expensive as some of the other plans that were floated out there.” At the March 20 meeting of the school board, member Jeff Hellrung updated the district’s process. “By delaying the high school
and middle school start times by 25 minutes, it would be the least disruptive option” for families and schools, while giving teens more time to sleep in the morning, he said. “This would also involve a 15-minute delay for the elementary schools. During March, the administration is taking this recommendation to the community to get feedback. At the end of that process, the administration will consider their recommendation to the board for next year. It’s still open to some adjustments based on feedback.” In an email to parents that was sent last week and
posted on the school district’s website, the district laid out its findings so far: “The pros and cons of starting schools later have been much debated by our stakeholders this month and we have received great, thoughtful feedback,” the message reads. “It’s clear that most see the benefits of the the move. The scientific evidence is compelling, later school start times will result in health and wellness benefits for our students, the proposed new start times minimize disruption to stakeholders, and the costs are acceptable. Continued on Page 2A
New book tells story of how Kennett Square works together to help future generations By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer On the evening of March 21 in the Kennett High School Auditorium, a gathering of local angels took place, but not in the heavenly sense. A group of 40 elected officials, volunteers, facilitators, educators, business leaders and heads of organizations from the Kennett Square area joined to celebrate the stories of their efforts and the work of others to provide opportunities for young people throughout the community -- stories Photo by Richard L. Gaw that are now captured in a Joan Holliday and Bob George, the authors of “The new book. Story of Kennett: Shaping Our Future One Child at a “The Story of Kennett: Time,” speak to a group of the book’s contributing Continued on Page 2A
writers on March 21.
A showcase for regional art in Chadds Ford...1B
INDEX Opinion........................7A Obituaries...................9A Classifieds..................3B
To Subscribe call 610.869.5553
By John Chambless Staff Writer
© 2007 The Chester County Press