Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 157, No. 24
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
$1.50
Penn Township rescinds parking lot resolutions The resolutions would have required the Avon Grove School District to add a 96-space overflow parking lot at the new High School By Marcella Peyre-Ferry Contributing Writer At their June 7 meeting, the Penn Township Board of Supervisors voted to vacate and rescind motions passed at the May 3 and May 17 meetings. These resolutions would have required the Avon Grove
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School District to install a 96-space overflow parking lot at the new High School, as noted on the approved site plans. The board also passed a resolution to defend the township or take action to settle two lawsuits filed by the school district contending that both of the original resolutions concerning the
additional parking were made in violation of the state’s Sunshine Law. Because the resolutions have been rescinded, the school district’s lawsuits and the request for an injunction become unnecessary. The township has received a variety of conContinued on page 2A
FROM OUR LENS Ready to take center stage
Bilingual Book Walk unveiled in Oxford……3B
Photos by HaLeigh Abbott
The Unionville graduates were all smiles at the ceremony.
Unionville High School celebrates its 100th graduating class By HaLeigh Abbott Contributing Writer Unionville High School’s Class of 2023 is one that won’t soon be forgotten as the 100th graduating class for the school district. The commencement, held on June 8 at the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware, heard many of the commencement speakers talk about the differences between the first graduating class of 1923 and the present. Edwin Hubble had not yet proved the universe was bigger than our own
solar system, and the graduates would not have even seen a Hollywood movie, yet the class of 2023 can enjoy “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” noted Natalie Carter, the guest speaker and Unionville High School teacher of the year. The commencement began with a processional to “Pomp and Circumstance” by the school band, followed by a beautiful presentation of the “Star Spangled Banner,” a performance of the school’s alma mater, and a benediction by the school choir. Continued on page 3A
Unionville High School’s commencement took place on June 8 at the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware.
Avon Grove graduates 429 in June 7 ceremony By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
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French micro bakery opens in Kennett Square ……1B
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If there was ever a group of high school students whose educational paths have been spun so abruptly over the course of the last four years, it has been the 429 members of the Avon Grove High School Class of 2023, who endured not only a worldwide pandemic but a myriad of adjustments Photo by Richard L. Gaw in the closing of one high The Avon Grove High School Class of 2023 saw 429 school and their move to a students receive their diplomas in ceremonies held at newly built school on the the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark on June 7. other side of West Grove. All of those students – as 4,000 friends and family at to be flexible, with little well as their trials and their the Bob Carpenter Center to no notice,” Principal successes -- were celebrated in Newark. Dr. Christie Snead told at the school’s 95th annual “Class of 2023, the start the graduates in her welcommencement ceremony of your high school career coming comments. “What on June 7, held before an was the start of the pan- makes your class unique Continued on page 2A marginally more in vehicle audience of approximately demic and you learned how coverage, addressing areas that were more unreliable,” said Andrew Petersohn, a radio frequency engineer with dBm Engineering who testified at the public hearing. CellCo/Verizon attorney Nicholas A. Cuce Jr. said the company “worked very diligently with Longwood By Chris Barber Gardens to come up with Contributing Writer a stealth design,” meaning The foreshadowing of a posthat the antennas and other equipment would blend in sible thunderstorm halfway through graduation last Friday with the surroundings. “The antennas are going evening was no match for the to be placed on top and love the Kennett Consolidated completely stealthed from School District has for its outview,” Cuce said. “The door ceremonies and the high equipment at the base will school’s majestic front steps. The administration went be shielded from view.” If installed, the antennas ahead with the al fresco celwould be 153 feet above ebration in early evening even as menacing clouds hovered ground level. Todd Gannon, a site overhead and thunder rumPhoto by Chris Barber acquisition consultant for bled in the distance. At 6 Emiliano Rodriguez enthusiastically announced to NB&C of Blue Bell, Pa., p.m. the school’s orchestra his classmates, “We made it!” He then led the stusaid the Red Lion Row site initiated its live presentation dents, administration and audience in the Pledge Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Contractors recently put the finishing touches on the completion of the 110-seat auditorium at the new Kennett Library & Resource Center. The library is set to officially open to the public on June 26, and a grand opening ceremony will be held on Aug. 27. For additional details, visit www.kennettlibrary.org.
New cell antennas proposed for Longwood Gardens’ water tower By Monica Fragale Contributing Writer Verizon Wireless could be getting a network coverage boost in East Marlborough Township. The township's board of supervisors could make a decision next month about allowing the installation of a wireless telecommunications facility on top of a water tank on Red Lion Row. At the June 5 meeting, the supervisors held a public hearing for CellCo Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless and discussed reconvening the hearing and possibly making a decision on the conditional-use application at the July 10 meeting. Adding nine panelstyle antennas atop the water tank on Longwood Gardens-owned property is estimated to add “upwards of three square miles … in building coverage and
Kennett graduates follow years of festive high school tradition
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of Allegiance.