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William Penn team's belongings stolen during football game in Lancaster


Members of William Penn Senior High School's football team had their belongings stolen while they played in Lancaster last week.

Joe Chiodi, the district's athletic director, told the York City School Board that after the Sept. 11 football game at JP McCaskey High School, the team found out the locker rooms had been "raided" and players' phones and backpacks taken. Then, as the buses headed out, someone threw rocks and broke two bus windows.

No one was injured, and police were there and stepped in right away, though no one was caught, Chiodi said.

The athletic director for McCaskey was apologetic, he said. Chiodi is compiling a list of the items taken.

"If they can find any of the phones, the backpacks, they'll return them, obviously," he said.

Principals will be handling the matter moving forward. Chiodi doesn't plan to inform the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, but a JV game that was to be played at McCaskey was canceled.

Chiodi also said that extra security steps will be taken at this week's game against Harrisburg High School as a precaution, since a fight broke out between some members of the school's basketball teams at a game last year. There will be extra security on the field and around Harrisburg's buses, as well as around the stands, Chiodi said.

Recovery plan update

Carol Saylor, York City's state-appointed chief recovery officer, gave the board a look at the first draft of a revised recovery plan. The plan will be modeled after priorities listed in a review of the district done by Mass Insight, an education-focused nonprofit.

The revised plan will span four years. Saylor said that makes sense because of some initiatives under way in the district: the expansion of prekindergarten and the freshman academy. The pre-kindergarten students will be in third grade — a year often used as a benchmark for reading proficiency — by that time, and the freshmen in the academy will be graduating.

The draft also includes new goals for student achievement over four years. It calls for the district to eliminate the gap between the district's level of third-graders proficient in reading and the state average as of this year. That difference now stands at about 40 percentage points using unofficial scores on the PSSA.

The revised plan would look to halve the gaps between the district and the state average performance on the PSSA reading and math tests and the Keystone exams given in algebra, English and biology.

The draft also calls for eliminating a small, about 3 percentage point, gap in graduation rates between William Penn and the state.

Saylor said the education department has seen and approved of the goals. PFM Group, a consultant, is working on a financial update for the plan.

Contact Angie Mason at 717-771-2048.