Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 154, No. 23
INSIDE
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
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Kennett School Oxford graduates 334 students Board approves final budget The spending plan includes a 1.74 percent tax increase By Chris Barber Contributing Writer
In a unanimous vote, the Kennett Consolidated School District Board approved a 2020-2021 budget with a smaller tax increase than the preliminary budget figure presented at previous meetings. The school board met virtually in a live-streamed meeting on June 8. School board member Michael Finnegan, who chairs the Finance Committee, said that in consideration of the unforeseen COVID-19 pandemic, Avon Grove Charter School earns distinction the school closures and the financial crisis, an ear...5B lier proposed tax increase of 2.42 percent had been reduced to 1.74 percent. He said the decision was made based on a multitude of meetings that began in January as well as the information received that the Penn Township news...3B
state allocation would not be reduced from last year. The approved operating budget for 2020-2021 is $88,200,022. Real estate owners will pay a millage rate of 31.4852 mills. A mill is a tax of 1 percent on every $1,000 worth of assessed property value. The average property owner whose real estate is assessed at $369,000 will have to pay an additional $97 next year. Superintendent Dusty Blakey said plans for a formal graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020 are still uncertain. The traditional celebration this year in the front lawn of the high school was cancelled because of the pandemic. There have been several events, however, to mark the occasion. Blakey said a formal ceremony following longtime tradition is still a possi-
Chalk the walk honors graduating seniors...6B
INDEX Opinion.......................5A Obituaries...........2B & 3B
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Black Lives Matter march draws 300 in West Grove
Courtesy photo
Some of Oxford Area High School’s senior leaders celebrated their graduation in front of the school. Please see Page 1B for coverage of the virtual graduation ceremony that took place on Friday, June 5.
bility, with four days in mid-July under consideration. He did not say what those dates were. The importance of the graduation for the seniors has not been ignored, however, especially the procession down the stately front steps of the high school building at the start of the ceremony. Each graduate is having his or her picture taken in the graduation gown on one of four days during the weeks of June 8 and 15 in a “front steps farewell.” Blakey also played a
care items, household cleaning supplies and paper products are also provided to people who need them. Each month, the Neighborhood Services Center provides food and other supplies to more than 1,500 clients, on average. The Neighborhood Services Center’s staff also runs an information and referral program that assists individuals in accessing the many health and human services that are available. This Continued on Page 4A
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video produced in-house that was titled “Kennett: It’s Who We Are.” He also announced the district buildings will reopen on June 15 following CDC guidelines. A plan to reopen for students in the fall will be worked on following instructions from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Facilities director George Wolhafe announced that renovations to the tennis courts, the Mary D. Lang Kindergarten Center and the sports stadium are all on schedule.
Unity Walk staged in Oxford
This past Sunday afternoon, West Grove joined the ranks of the thousands of cities and towns across the United States and the world that have brought both voices and resources together in proclaiming that police violence and racism against African American men and women must come to an immediate end. At 5 p.m., a crowd estimated at about 300 filled the common area near the West Grove Library as part of a peaceful Black Lives Matter event that included a unified march through the borough, three public speeches and an eight-minute, forty-six second moment of silence to honor the memory of George Floyd, who was killed on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minn. at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and three other officers, who stood idle while Chauvin jammed his knee into Floyd’s neck for that length of time, suffocating Floyd. Carrying signs that read “Enough is Enough,” “Silence is Violence” and “Skin Color is Not a Weapon,” the protestors were greeted by event organizer Bryanna Laws, 18, who is a nursing student at Temple University and a recent graduate of Avon Grove High School. In her opening comments, Laws shared her own stories of discrimination, which included being the recipient of racist taunts directed at her and her family. Laws thanked Kristin Proto, the executive director of the Garage Community & Youth Center; Gerald Simpson, chief of the Southern Chester County Regional
Those who joined in the Unity Walk in Oxford last week knelt for nearly nine minutes in honor of George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis on May 25. Nine minutes is much longer than you think, and it is how long Floyd was gasping for air, begging to breathe, during the incident that has created a firestorm. More than 40 people, including adults, children, teens, joined the Unity Walk in Oxford. The event was organized by Katie Minnis. “Bethany Atkinson and I talked about this and decided we wanted to do it quickly. We were both sick about what happened to George Floyd,” Minnis explained. The walk was organized within hours with a call to Mayor Phil Harris and the Oxford Police Department. Mayor Harris, Police Chief Sam Iaconno and Cpl. Scott Brown took part in the event. Council members, Borough
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By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer
Oxford Area Neighborhood Services Center welcomes new executive director Rachel Lebus is the new executive director of the Oxford Area Neighborhood Services Center. Lebus joined the nonprofit organization in Oxford at the end of April, taking over for Krys Sipple, who served as the interim executive director for over a year. “I was really ready for this challenge,” said Lebus. She explained that she learned that the Neighborhood
Services Center was seeking a new leader from the pastor at her church. Redemption Community Church pastor Billy Levengood serves on the board of the Oxford Area Neighborhood Services Center so she was already very familiar with the organization and its core mission of providing assistance to local residents in need. Since the Oxford Area Neighborhood Services Center was founded on Nov. 1, 1971, tens of thousands of area families in the southern
part of the county have been helped by its programs and services. The organization offers help for local residents who are struggling to meet their basic needs, including the need for food, shelter, and clothing. One major initiative for the Neighborhood Services Center is a food cupboard that collects—and then distributes—canned goods and non-perishable items that are donated by individuals, churches, and community groups. Diapers, personal
By Frank Lobb When I first became aware of how easy it is for health insurance to deny coverage and care, the HMO was the dominant plan in the country. Today, the HMO has dwindled to something under 20 percent of the market and the PPO is the more dominant plan. However, the HDHP is coming on fast and there are a number of other new and clever acronyms in the pipeline. So, what does all this change mean? What does it mean for you and me in terms of the care and coverage we can expect and, more importantly, are owed from our changing health insurance? Fortunately, the answer is simple. Our plan’s choice of an acronym has essentially nothing to do with what we are owed. That’s because all the different plans operate off the very same Provider Agreement, i.e., an agreement that defines every element of the care, coverage and payment we are owed. So what is changing? There has to be something given the effort of the insurance industry to separate these plans. Fortunately, the answer is once again quite simple. It’s the insurance industry walking further and further away from what they have to pay for the care and coverage we need and are owed. And, just as long as they keep their Provider Agreements a deep dark secret, you and I never realize that our insurer is simply transferring the cost of our healthcare to their in-network providers. For, while our plan may have a contractual right to deny payment essentially any time they choose for insurance purposes, their in-network providers have a similarly clear contractual obligation to provide denied coverage free of charge. In short, our plan’s retreat from what they pay for our healthcare simply transfers the cost of the care to the provider. But then who knows? Which means you and I get stuck with the bill. A win-win for everyone but us. Our plan gets to pay as little as they want while their in-network providers get to ignore their contractual obligation to provide denied care and coverage for free. Unless, of course, you and I know enough to speak up. We began this series of articles by stressing that the laws and contracts that guaranteed our parents the best possible healthcare and coverage haven’t changed. You and I just have to know how to apply them to get what we are owed. Consequently, we have come full circle and will end the series here. In closing, let me stress that any and all different opinions on what has
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
What You Need to Know About Health Insurance HMO, PPO, HDHP, or POS, It Really Doesn’t Matter
Local residents rally for justice and unity Event organized and led by 18-year-old Avon Grove High School graduate
Part 8 in a series