His age doesn't add up. How could he be a scout leader in '06 and graduate in '08 and be 27 years old? I do not have kids in the elementary schools yet, but I would be worried about them attending school before they find him. His name is out there and I worry about his state of mind and what he might do.

Kristin, You're right. Thanks for the catch. He joined the school district staff in 2008. I've corrected the article and added a note to reflect this.

Thanks Pete!

The question now is, why was Lewis allowed to continue working in the schools unsupervised around kids subsequent to the school district finding out that he was under criminal investigation for child molestation?

I agree with the question, but who is the person that will answer it? Is the school board where the buck stops? Or does it not stop at all?

Parents a couple of things to update this:

1. Matthew Lewis surrendered this morning and posted bail. I confirmed this with a Trooper Lebron at Avon Police Barracks
2. I personally spoke with Supt. and he confimed that there is a board meeting this evening at 7:30. I have spoken with him both prior to charges being brought and today. He is still saying that he is personally disgusted but followed the advice of counsel to handle in the current manner.
3. I asked for a meeting with a larger parent population at this time. He stated that he thought it would not be best since counsel has instructed him not to speak
4. Why was there a need to have a tech support person accused of inappropriate behavior in the schools and why was he instructed not to use the boys room and no one was ever followed up. Numerous kids have stated that they used a urinal next to Lewis in the last month or so.
5. Please support the upcoming proposal that the kids bathroom will be off limits to parents, teachers, etc.

Adults--specifically, staff--need to be allowed to go into the kids' bathrooms in case there is a sick child or a problem of some sort in the bathroom. It is not realistic to expect no adult to ever go into the kids' bathroom.

Everyone needs to breathe a little bit... Please remember that none of us has all the facts and unless we get them, we are not in a position to say what should have been done, or what should be changed in the future.

Molly - you are missing the point. Sugartown has dedicated bathrooms for Faculty. Superintendent and Principal both personally confirmed this with me.

Of course there would be times when it is necessary that an adult would need to enter a kids bathroom for safety or other concerns. My point is why do grown men find it necessary to use a child's urinal when there adult facilities near by.

Mr Lewis was instructed not to use this bathroom, but he ignored it. My son and many other boys at Sugartown have stated that they frequently saw him in the bathroom and he would use the urinal next to them.

This is disturbing considering that the administration was aware of the investigation in August (confirmed at this evening's board meeting by President Barrett) and did not see the need to restrict their staff (one of whom was a child molester under investigation) from using the boys bathroom.

We live in a sick world and unfortunately we need to put these types of precautions in place.

Please continue to notify ALL parents that you know about the details of this situation ... the school disrict carefully crafted last weeks mass email to exclude the fact the crimes that Matt Lewis was charged with were predatory pedophila crimes and the alleged victims are young boys 9 to 11 in age. Their "silence" from the board at the meeting last night spoke volumes about how SERIOUS this situation is. Please spread the facts to as many parents as possible.

Perhaps the District should fill the Director of Technology position so that there are not unsupervised individuals working in the district. I understand the need to save some money, but isn't the safety of the children more important. This situation has been handled poorly. Anyone who met this man would have noticed a red flag. It is troubling that this could happen in such a great school district.

I think a major reason this guy was all over the district is because of all the budget cutting that is going on at the district. The board has now real idea how these budget cuts affect the daily workings of the whole district. They keep chopping all kinds of positons and then expect the rest of the staff to cover the axed positions.I agree with A Parent. This was really bad advice by the legal counsel too!

A special meeting of the school board will be held tonight at 7pm at the General Wayne Elementary School auditorium. If you have kids in any of the GVSD schools, you'll want to be there. The school board has promised to answer questions about this situation.

to "A Parent" i've met him and i saw no red flags...he may be slow but that doesn't mean he is a pedophile...i have a boy in the MS and in scouts who actually has gone to Horseshoe with Matt (not those years) and i pray that the boys are telling the truth...as the devils advocate - 16 year old boys can be mean, especially to someone challenged...so i hope this is real for everyones sake...b/c if it isn't then matt's and his familys lives are ruined and those boys are to thank for that...if it is then thank God that the boys found the courage to come forward...can you imagine being them? then and now? i can't imagine that i'd have the courage at 40 something to come forward let alone at 16...it is a horrible situation all around but let the system do its job and figure it out...to molly i agree "breathe, breathe"...maybe the district made a bad decision but they certainly didn't sit around cups of coffee and say lets handle it this way...there is protocol and lawyers who advise and have the best interest of the children and school district in mind...Dr. L i believe has the law and alot of knowledge behind him...that's why he's the super and not one of us...in the end lets just all pray for the healing of everyone involved...

I agree with what Jenifer is stating in general. He's not yet been proven guilty and is therefore still innocent. While we don't know the truth, it appears there are reasonable accusations that should be taken seriously. The case is for the courts to now decide, not parents on a website.

For parents, the issue that needs to be resolved with the school board is how we expect a school district to handle a reasonable accusation of misconduct (sexual or other serious crime) by an employee. It is commonsense that the school should place on leave any individual in such situations. They should also be forthcoming about the situation with parents and students, and can serve a calming role by emphasizing to parents that mandatory leave of absence is a fail-safe policy to protect kids, not an indictment of guilt or innocence. That wasn't done in this situation. Worse, the school district seems intent on making discussion and resolution of the issue more difficult.

Do we have effective policy for such situations or did someone not follow the policy we have, or both? We must demand the answers because our goal as parents is to ensure this loophole is closed so we don't again have a situation where a suspected criminal is allowed to remain unsupervised around our kids in the schools.

To Jenifer -
In reference to the red flag comment, I simply meant that I didn't get the feeling that I would want to leave my children alone with this person. Perhaps you feel differently, but as a parent I have a high standard for the individuals who are going to come in contact with my children. I didn't mean to offend anyone, sorry if I did. Also, I didn't get the impression that he was "slow", I simply didn't have a good feeling about the encounter. Maybe I'm just more paranoid about who has access to my children.

I hope the discussion tonight can be future-focused (i.e. what practices and policies do we expect from the district, what's in place now that needs to change moving forward?) Pointing fingers and complaining is going to be a waste of everyone's time. We need to talk about solutions. Anyone who is accused of a serious crime should be placed on leave until it is resolved, seems like a reasonable request. However information about the case, including the accused persons name, is likely not legally allowed and should not be expected. The school district will only be allowed to share very limited information if any at all (remember that he was not charged until recently), but at least if we know there is a "leave of absence" policy in place we can be more sure the district is doing the right thing.

Let us not forget that we live in an extremely letigious society. Dr. Lono is bound to stay within legal boundaries. Perhaps the problem in the GVSD lies with the "expert" legal advice the district is paying for. If you read the timeline above, it clearly states that in Early October: Pennsylvania's Department of Public Welfare reported to the school district that the investigation against Lewis was "unfounded." With no charges filed and no reason to believe charges would be filed imminently, Lewis was reinstated to his original job duties on Oct. 3.  Given this info why should the district hold unsubstantiated accusations against someone ? Also, why would PDPW issue such a statement when only two months later charges were eventually brought against Mr. Lewis ?
In addition, Rita Jones was an invisible figurehead who very rarely was a visible presence in GV schools, preferring to hide in the safety of her bunker in district office.
At least Al Lonoconus is a standup Superintendent !

Did the December 28 preliminary hearing take place?

Are there any plans to update this story for the hearing that took place yesterday?