Photo Courtesy of Fox 29 News Philadelphia

Asherly Lin ‘25

REPORTER

On August 16, fugitive Danelo Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison. He was convicted of first-degree murder for killing his girlfriend in front of her children. Fifteen days after being sentenced, Cavalcante escaped the Chester County Prison by crab-walking up the wall, running across a roof, and pushing through razor wire.

On August 31, the high school and middle school entered a Secure operating mode, which prevented any person from entering or leaving the school. That weekend, police forces arranged a secured perimeter to search for Cavalcante. On September 5, and September 6, the district closed all schools and operating on a FID (Flexible Instruction Day) schedule. Kennett Area School District was also forced to close school for the search. Throughout that week, Cavalcante was moving around at night through Longwood Gardens, creeks, and other residential homes.

As schools returned to in-person operations, there were still numerous additional security measures implemented, according to a communication sent out by Dr. John Sanville, Superintendent of the district, “to ensure the safety of students and staff.” The sightings of Cavalcante in Longwood Gardens, inside the perimeter that was near the school, led to schools continuing to operate in a Secure status, administrators supervising students after school when walking to the busses, and increased supervision in the parking lots.

Though the high school was able to remain operational after the FID days, Chadds Ford Elementary and Hillendale Elementary were further impacted by the search efforts. As the two schools were inside the perimeter (with sightings of Cavalcante occurring close to both of the schools), they were unable to safely transport students to and from school and operate unimpacted by the search. As Lt. Colonel George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police, who led the search efforts, noted, “[the police] had to manually carve out Chadds Ford Elementary and Hillendale [Elementary] from the perimeters” to allow for the schools to operate.

Dr. Amy Jenkins, principal of the high school, said that the escape of Cavalcante and the resulting search efforts, “demonstrated the effectiveness of the new security measures implemented this year.” Jenkins gave the example of the new postings of the Security Response Protocol, which details different security actions that need to be taken in different scenarios. Jenkins said that, “even though [the community and school] never imagined having to deal with something like [an escaped prisoner] and don’t want to deal with it again, the situation was a proof of concept that demonstrated that the Protocol is highly effective,” as it “allowed for students, staff, administrators, and first responders to communicate in the same language.”

After Cavalcante was captured and in custody on September 13, the administration, “breathed a sigh of relief,” said Jenkins. Jenkins stated, “though the situation was stressful for students, staff, and community members, [she] is glad that everyone is safe and that the situation is resolved.” Jenkins said that “the guiding goal for [the administration] is to provide a safe learning environment for students.”