Cheltenham is trying to move past its football scandal. Here’s what happens next.
The school board announced a new leader, Chris McGinley, and an independent review of district policies. But there are many unanswered questions.
As it faced parents and community members during an emotional meeting Tuesday, the Cheltenham School Board laid out several steps to address concerns about the scandal over the 2025 locker-room assaults that led to criminal charges against four coaches and six players.
The board announced new leadership — with plans to appoint veteran educator Chris McGinley as interim superintendent — and an independent review of district policies, with recommendations to follow in 60 days.
But questions remain about how the board will respond to the district’s alleged mishandling of the situation, including by employees faulted in a grand jury report. Parents on Tuesday, including some who have alleged the district’s safety problems extend beyond the football program, voiced skepticism of the board’s promises.
Here’s what happens next as the board deals with the aftermath of the criminal charges announced two weeks ago, and the lack of confidence expressed by community members:
A former superintendent returns
The board said it plans to tap Chris McGinley, a longtime educator who served as Cheltenham’s superintendent in the early 2000s, to lead the district, after superintendent Brian Scriven resigned last week.
McGinley, who more recently worked as an education professor at Temple University, will be appointed by the board at a special meeting next week, president Leah Mulhearn said Tuesday. A district spokesperson did not respond to a question Wednesday on what day the meeting would be scheduled.
McGinley, who began his education career as a teacher in Philadelphia, joined Cheltenham in 1999 as an assistant superintendent, where he oversaw efforts to address the district’s racial achievement gap. He then became Cheltenham superintendent, leaving the district in 2006 before becoming superintendent two years later in Lower Merion, which he led through 2014.
McGinley then served on the School Reform Commission, which oversaw Philadelphia schools while they were under state control. He was later named to the Philadelphia school board by former Mayor Jim Kenney, leaving the board in 2020.
McGinley could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The district has not responded to questions about whether Scriven, who received a new five-year contract in December, will receive any payout as part of his departure.
An outside lawyer’s review
The board has enlisted Leigh Dalton, an education attorney based in York, Pa., with the Saxton & Stump firm, to review its policies and procedures and produce recommendations to the board in 60 days.
Mulhearn said the review would “include consideration of the grand jury’s findings and how to address them.”
None of those findings were discussed by the board Tuesday. In a scathing report accompanying the recommendation of criminal charges, the grand jury accused the district of “incompetence” while describing the actions of three employees at the high school.
The employees — labeled in the report only as Employee #1, #2, and #3 — texted each other after the mother of the 15-year-old victim reported her son’s assault on Sept. 7. One said the student had a “chip on his shoulder” from not making varsity and said he had steered the mother away from coming to the high school in person.
The employees also indicated they trusted the head coach, Terence Tolbert, and didn’t believe the mother that Tolbert — who, along with three other coaches, has since been charged with conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child — had instructed the victim not to tell his parents what happened. The report said the district then included Tolbert in its investigation.
The district has not responded to questions about the status of the three employees described in the grand jury report. Nor has it commented on leadership at the high school, or former high school vice principal Mark Hoff, whom the player’s mother said she reported the assault to. Hoff was named vice principal at Wyncote Elementary last month.
A district spokesperson did not respond to a question Wednesday about the cost of hiring Dalton, or whether her report would eventually be made public. Dalton was hired by Central Bucks last year to investigate special education abuse allegations; the district did not publicly release her conclusions.
Football is still canceled
The board will also be reviewing all athletic programs, “top to bottom,” Mulhearn said. And there’s no timetable for when football, which the district already canceled in May, will resume.
“Football will not return until we address this, no matter how long it takes,” Mulhearn said.
Safety changes
Mulhearn said some safety changes were already underway. The district is “ensuring that all staff members have current criminal history and child abuse clearances on file,” she said. The grand jury report had said that at least five of the district’s football coaches last year were not up to date on clearances related to child abuse reporting requirements.
She also said the district was “communicating and reinforcing coach expectations and plans for improved locker-room supervision.” While there was an office in the football locker room, coaches didn’t use it last season, leaving players unsupervised, according to the grand jury report.
Cheltenham has “begun implementing” recommendations from a Center for Safe Schools audit, Mulhearn said. She also said the board had retained the Bucks County Intermediate Unit “to audit our human resources function.”
Some parents of football players recently told The Inquirer they had urged the district not to hire Tolbert, who they said was hired as coach without an interview because he was already a teacher in the district. The district has not responded to questions about Tolbert’s hiring.
The criminal cases
Three coaches and the two players charged as adults by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office will face a district judge at a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 27. (Ralph Burnley, the fourth coach charged, has not yet been arraigned in the case, and there is no indication he has hired an attorney to represent him. He did not return a request for comment.)
The four players charged as juveniles will face separate proceedings in juvenile court that are not open to the public.
At the preliminary hearing for the other defendants, prosecutors will present evidence to the judge to support the charges through witnesses. Defense attorneys will be given the opportunity to cross-examine those witnesses and make arguments to the judge for their clients’ innocence.
After the hearing, the judge will determine whether the prosecution has proven the validity of the charges, and, if so, will send the cases to county court.
Inquirer staff writer Jess Rohan contributed to this article.
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