School officials respond to fights

Administrators say they’re working toward creating a safer environment

CALN >> A city resident recently described the Coatesville high school as a “war zone” while district officials say those fights occurred months ago and they are working toward creating a safer environment.

The Coatesville Area School District administrators addressed the matter Thursday to parents, students and the media following a TV news report on Wednesday of violence and fighting allegations among students.

“I wanted a chance to assure you that the daily atmosphere in our buildings is so much more peaceful and positive than the accusations,” 9/10 Center Principal Brian Chenger said in a letter Thursday to parents and the Daily Local News.

Chenger said the district began discussions with the community in late November 2015 about the need to ensure the “staff and students feel as safe as possible in our buildings.”

“We met with Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan and several other local law enforcement and government officials to develop a plan to update our safety measures,” Chenger said in his letter to parents. “We hired additional security guards for both the 9/10 Center and high school, we are in the process of updating our security cameras, and we continue to talk with students about our no tolerance policy toward fighting and violence.”

He said any students involved in altercations are immediately disciplined according to the school code

“Fighting of any kind will not be tolerated. There is no place for hate, violence or disruption in our schools.” — Coatesville Area School District 9/10 Center Principal Brian Chenger

of conduct.

“There have been rumors on social media that there were numerous fights at the campus today, and that we were on a lockdown. That is not true,” Chenger said in his letter Thursday. “We had one altercation between two female students early this morning outside of the school building.

It was immediately disrupted and the students’ parents were contacted and they were sent home. Another potential student issue occurred shortly after, but that was immediately de-escalated and was not physical.”

A student tweeted at a Daily Local News reporter in the early afternoon Thursday, saying that the students could not move in the school to get to their classes because of the incidents. The tweet has since