Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 158, No. 10
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
$1.50
USDA grants Avon Grove Charter $84 million for building project By Chris Barber Contributing Writer A representative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week that a grant of $84 million has been awarded to the Avon Grove Charter School for the construction of a new building. Bob Morgan, the Pennsylvania State Director of the Department of Agriculture Rural Development, said at the conclusion of a ground-
INSIDE
breaking ceremony that the school qualified for the grant because it is in a rural zip code and it serves its agricultural community well. Throughout its history starting in 2002, the school has offered a strong bonding with agriculture that included farm animals, ecology and a greenhouse. The Charter School has supported a farm, sheep, ducks, rabbits, fish and bees. It is also a strong advocate of art, music and ingenuity.
School CFO Donna Archer said the talk of expanding and renovating began in 2021 with a decision by the administration that the modular classrooms “had to go.” That was followed by a needs assessment and two years of exploration of building plans and financing. At a Feb. 29 groundbreaking ceremony, Archer said that she first became aware of the possibility of support from the Department of Agriculture, and they pro-
issues, speech difficulties, spasticity (stiffness), swallowing disorders, tremors, and visual disorders. I have lived with multiple It’s a long list of sclerosis (MS) for over 50 symptoms. years. It took me years just Lucy Wainwright Roche to to get a diagnosis because Multiple sclerosis bring her sound to The MS mimics so many other explained Kennett Flash...1B diseases. I’m writing this story What actually happens now because I hope it helps when a person is afflicted others. with MS? Over one million people With this disease, the in the U.S have MS and immune system attacks the let me make one thing protective sheath (myelin) very clear: no two people that covers nerve fibers have the same symptoms. and causes communication Everyone is different. problems between your Your symptoms may start brain and the rest of your out mild, then increase to body. Eventually, the disa greater severity without ease can cause permanent rhyme or a reason. One day damage or deterioration of you may walk normally, the fibers. Areas of inflamCCIU plans expansion to and the next you are using mation and damage are serve children with spe- a cane, a walker or you may known as lesions. The cial needs...3B even need a wheelchair to changes in size, number, get around. You may have and location of these lesions moments when words come may determine the type and out jumbled, or your vision severity of symptoms. will be blurry. While individuals with Not everyone who has relapsing forms of MS are MS will need a wheelchair. believed to experience more Some people with the dis- inflammation than those ease may look perfectly with progressive forms of healthy. MS, lesions will occur for There are many symptoms individuals with all forms of MS. These may include of MS. However, the lesions the following: anxiety, in progressive forms of MS poor balance, bladder dys- may be less active and may function, bowel problems, expand more slowly. cognitive changes, depresIn addition to symptoms, sion, dizziness or vertigo, disease activity may be fatigue, mobility and walk- evaluated from changes ing issues, numbness, pain, in the size or number of Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA), lesions. Frequently, MS sexual dysfunction, sleep Continued on Page 2A
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Living with multiple sclerosis By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer
© 2007 The Chester County Press
ceeded from there. Archer said the $84 million includes $50 million for the building itself, with the remaining $34 million allocated for infrastructure, the interest for a tax-free municipal bond and the costs of renovating and updating the other parts of the property. Morgan said he was so impressed with the school that when he began working with them, he had a budget Photo by Chris Barber of only $39 million. Administration and staff at Avon Grove Charter School break ground on the new building on Feb. 29.
FROM OUR LENS District Champions!
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Unionville’s James Anderson holds a trophy aloft in front of the student section moments after the Longhorns’ varsity basketball team captured the PIAA District 1 5A championship with a 63-36 victory over Upper Dublin on Feb. 29 at West Chester University’s Hollinger Field House. See story on Page 1B.
Kennett Township to eliminate several committees By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer In an effort to consolidate Kennett Township’s internal operations, its Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion that will eliminate its Land Conservancy Advisory Committee (LCAC) and several other committees. The board reached the decision at its Feb. 21 meeting. The LCAC will be replaced with a contract with Brandywine Red Clay Alliance (BRCA), who will serve as the township’s primary land conserva-
tion agency. The vote also eliminated township committees in the areas of agricultural advisory, communications, community pride, deer management, indoor agriculture, safety and business advisory. Reading from a prepared statement, supervisor Pat Muller said that realigning the township’s internal systems was an effort to “streamline functions, find economies of scale and professionalize work that was loosely organized with varying degrees of accountability and oversight.” “In the past, resident-led committees were formed
that acted in a variety of ways,” she said. “Some were formed by ordinance, and some were formed by resolution to act on behalf of the township and serve in the place of professional staff who at the time were not yet in place. As government operations have become more professionalized, leadership felt that it was an appropriate time to review the various committees, their mandates, functions and efficacy, and eliminate redundancies where there was now staff coverage, consolidating functions where there was commit-
tee overlap an to provide consistent oversight where it was needed. “The intended goal of such a review was to identify more focused and cost-effective to deliver the policy priorities as set by township supervisors that you, the residents, elected.” “I would like to thank each of you for your dedication to preserving open space and the Kennett environment that we all have come to treasure,” wrote LCAC Chairman Jeff Yetter in an email to his fellow members. “We have preserved over 400
acres in perpetuity including Barkingfield, Lord Howe and Spar Hill parks, the Case and Miller Farms and numerous smaller parcels. Your efforts have ensured that future generations will enjoy some of the beauty and landscapes that are reasons why we live in this beautiful township. “I am quite sure that you join me in wishing that BRCA’s efforts will continue to increase the preserved lands in Kennett. While the board’s decision eliminates several committees, they Continued on Page 4A