Cheltenham school board promises frustrated parents it will ‘move with deliberate speed’ to rebuild trust after locker-room assaults

The Cheltenham school board said Tuesday night it would review safety procedures and assess the culture in all of its athletic programs as it pledged to rebuild community trust after an explosive grand jury report condemned the district’s response to the assaults of a football player last season in a high-school locker room.

The attacks on the 15-year-old, which took place in August and September 2025, “arose in the context of a culture of intimidation and acceptance of violence,” President Leah Mulhearn said, speaking at the board’s first meeting since criminal charges were announced against four coaches and six players.

Mulhearn, who also announced that veteran educator Chris McGinley would be tapped as interim superintendent, promised the board would move quickly to fix problems.

The district already cancelled the 2026 football season in May. “Football will not return until we address this, no matter how long it takes,” Mulhearn said.

Parents, who lined up behind a microphone in the district’s administration building when it was their turn to speak, expressed skepticism and demanded more from the board after a grand jury report accused the district of endangering students through a failed response to the assaults, one of which was captured on video.

In emotional comments, some parents said their children had been assaulted in the schools, while others questioned how they could believe the board, when they had warned against hiring a coach who has since been charged with conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child.

“We entrusted our children to this district,” said Chowan Cowans, who withdrew her son, a rising senior and former Cheltenham football player, because “I don’t feel safe with him being there anymore.”

Cowans accused the district of a lack of transparency, which “has to mean something when the truth is uncomfortable,” she said.

The board has been navigating the fallout since Montgomery County prosecutors nearly two weeks ago announced the charges in the locker-room assaults and delivered a stinging assessment of the school district, with a grand jury report accusing it of “incompetence” in its handling of the situation.

Employees at the high school appeared to minimize the Sept. 3 assault after it was reported to them by the 15-year-old victim’s mother, according to the grand jury report. They also took the head coach, Terence Tolbert, at his word that he hadn’t instructed the player not to tell his parents what happened, and included the coach in their investigation — which failed to uncover that there were two assaults, the report said.

It also noted that employees were also confused on their mandatory reporting requirements.

On Tuesday, Mulhearn said that while the board “may differ with the grand jury with respect to some of its findings about how the district and board responded, the hard truth is that we must acknowledge that mistakes were made.”

Mulhearn said the board would “move with deliberate speed to address these issues.” She said the board would enlist an outside attorney, Leigh Dalton — who was hired by Central Bucks School District last year to investigate special education abuse allegations — to review the district’s policies and procedures and make recommendations within 60 days.

She didn’t comment on Superintendent Brian Scriven’s resignation last week. Some parents questioned whether and when the board’s position on Scriven had shifted, after the board praised the superintendent’s leadership in May.

A district spokesperson did not respond to a question this week about whether Scriven, who received a new five-year contract in December, would receive any payout following his resignation.

Nor did the board indicate whether it was considering taking action against any employees at the high school. One parent, for instance, asked whether Mark Hoff, the former vice principal at Cheltenham High School, would still become the vice principal at Wyncote Elementary, in light of the grand jury report faulting high school employees.

The board, which appointed Director of Business Services Joshua Sweigard acting superintendent on Tuesday, will hold a special meeting next week to appoint McGinley as interim superintendent, Mulhearn said. McGinley, who previously led both the Cheltenham and Lower Merion districts and more recently served on the Philadelphia School Reform Commission and Philadelphia school board. His most recent position was as the faculty program coordinator of the Educational Leadership and Policy program at Temple University.

Parents urged the board to commit to more steps. In a joint statement, the United Parents Group, the Special Education Alliance of Cheltenham, and the Cheltenham African American Alliance called for numerous actions, including a community town hall ahead of the first day of school and an assembly on the first day “to enforce a zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual harassment, bullying and hazing.” They also called for safety data to be a part of every school board meeting.

“We are demanding a fundamental shift in how our school district operates,” Aubria Nance, reading from the groups’ joint statement, told the board.

Numerous parents from Cheltenham Elementary, who have been pressing the district to address safety concerns they say have affected students and staff, questioned how the board’s response this time would differ.

“Every time I hear a commitment to our students’ safety, I want to see the proof,” said Erin Fadako, a parent at the school.

The Inquirer reported last week that some football parents had urged the district not to hire Tolbert, saying he had allowed bullying while previously serving as head coach in Abington, where he left after one season.

“Everyone from the administration on down that has failed these students, you all have approved them to be hired here,” said Taryn Knox, who was among the football parents who had asked the district not to hire Tolbert.

After a year of negative news coverage, Knox said, “we’re now about to go into the next school year, and the news is still here.”

As they voiced their frustration, parents pleaded with the board to make real changes.

“Stop being risk averse and do what you need to do to make it safe for our children,” said Stephanie Curry, president of the high school’s parent teacher organization. “Our kids are the ones that are suffering.”