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Fresh turmoil in Coatesville School District

After a scandal involving racist and sexist texts between the former superintendent and athletic director and a scathing grand jury report, leaders in the Coatesville Area School District promised dramatic change and a new era of transparency.

After a scandal involving racist and sexist texts between the former superintendent and athletic director and a scathing grand jury report, leaders in the Coatesville Area School District promised dramatic change and a new era of transparency.

But just 19 months after hiring a new superintendent who promised sweeping reforms - Cathy Taschner, the daughter of Lukens Steel plant workers - the district is awash in fresh turmoil.

Teachers, union leaders, parents, and students allege that rampant fighting inside schools - especially the 9/10 Center, where high school freshmen and sophomores are taught - has led to a climate of fear and intimidation for educators.

Union officials hold that the administration has focused its disciplinary fire on the faculty, citing 27 teacher disciplinary hearings - much higher than previous years - since the fall of 2014 and that demoralized educators are leaving in droves. In the same period, teachers have filed 28 labor grievances against the district.

District records show that reports of fights at the high school are running well ahead of prior years.

Dean Snyder, the Coatesville school board president, gives Taschner high marks and said the talk of increased classroom violence has been exaggerated, even as officials have added private security guards at the high school.

In an interview, the superintendent also downplayed the reports and the magnitude of teacher exodus - 45 have left since last year - but admitted that new policies have been hard on some staffers.

"Change is never easy," said Taschner, whose annual salary is $175,000. "Every person who works here has a choice to make. There are certain guidelines in the school code; [if you break those rules], then you're not part of the system."

In the interview, Taschner said she arrived in the 7,000-student district in June 2014 to discover fiscal mismanagement, cronyism, and other ethical lapses, as well as lagging academics, including the use of borrowed books and "maps on the walls with countries that don't exist."

Her initiatives - including an overhaul of the math curriculum, and increased mental-health counseling and after-school programs - have been met with praise, but her reported rise in violent incidents has raised concerns.

"It has started to get out of hand," said Fonz Newsuan, founder of a Coatesville education reform group called the Movement.

On Oct. 20, 2015, for example, Coatesville Area school police said an 18-year-old student walked up to another student in the deli line at the cafeteria in the 9/10 Center and, without provocation, punched him in the nose, bruising the victim's face and causing him to seek medical treatment. The 18-year-old was arrested and charged with simple assault and other offenses.

Exactly one month later, more fighting in the same cafeteria - district officials cite just two incidents, although students and community activists say there were more - and then rumors that more violence had been threatened on social media led police to sweep the cafeteria with bomb-sniffing dogs. The uproar also led the district to hire four additional unarmed security officers for its two high school buildings.

Union officials said that a teacher was struck in the face during that brawl and filed a complaint with the district's police 10 days later. Taschner referred questions about the incident to the district solicitor, who did not return calls seeking comment.

The district acknowledged that 19 fights had been reported at the high school through December, compared to 18 to 26 annually in recent years. Taschner declined to say how many have taken place since December, or at the district's middle schools.

Getting a clearer picture of school violence trends has been difficult because the district is roughly two years behind in filing its required Safe School reports with the state. Taschner said that was an accidental glitch - caused by an error in its online reporting procedures - and that the district is working to correct it.

The strongest evidence of rising violence comes from anecdotal reports from teachers and students, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and also parents and students who flooded a December school board meeting to complain about unsafe schools. Ashley Miller, a 17-year-old Coatesville junior, said recently: "I know a teacher who says, 'I refuse to come out of my classroom.' Fights are nonstop." She said that when fighting breaks out, the teacher locks her door. She said other teachers are elbowed or roughed up trying to stop the fisticuffs.

"I hear things - secondhand references to lots of fights," said Snyder, the board president. "I don't have facts or firsthand accounts to back that up."

Snyder said the controversy has obscured what he considers an excellent start for the superintendent, citing improved technology and smaller class sizes.

Moreover, Taschner said teachers have been trained in "trauma-informed" education, which relies on getting to the root of student problems rather than imposing "reactionary" punishments such as detention and suspension.

Union activists are less enthused. Audra Ritter, head of the teachers' local, said the issues raised with the administration include "student discipline, unresolved grievances, adequate staffing, and substandard communication. When these issues go unresolved, they greatly impact morale and the entire district falls behind."

But Taschner defended her efforts, saying her family roots in the Coatesville area are inspiring her drive to make the schools better.

"I'm protective of it," she said of the community. "I'm fiercely committed to my colleagues who work here every day . . . and are dedicated to making each day better."

kboccella@phillynews.com

610-313-8232

@Kathy_Boccella