Havertownies HQ was in the house at the Haverford Middle School concert on Wednesday, December 6th 2017 at 7:00pm at the Haverford High School auditorium. Our district's music program is pretty kick-ass, and the concert was yet another demonstration of it. You don't have to know much about music to appreciate the performance, shown below in music director's Alex Gittelman's video (that's Mr. Gittelman conducting). You just have to know what it's like to herd cats, and imagine those cats wielding fireworks. This is what it is like getting a bunch of 11-, 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds to play complicated band and orchestral pieces together. We were really impressed. This video doesn't do the full sound justice, but it still sounds good and you can get an idea of all the work everyone put in. Congrats, players and directors, and frankly, sincere congrats to the teachers and administrators who create and handle a-thousand-moving-parts schedules of said cats every week, month and year. Good job and great show! Thank you, all. … [Read more...]
Middle School boys stopped by police under suspicion of firearms
We are asking the HPD for an official statement about this incident. Sara Christiansen, the principal of Chatham Park, sent out a robocall message at 4:18 pm today. Here are some facts: at approximately 3:30 pm many police officers, canine units and inspectors converged on a group of male Haverford Middle School students based on a citizen tip that one of the youths was carrying a weapon. The children were horse playing at some point between the Middle School and Chatham, and the citizen saw what looked to be a gun. It has been confirmed that the weapon was a "toy" (as Ms. Christiansen put it in her message). According to Christiansen, 3 of the youths were taken into custody (they were transported to the police station but they were not under arrest at any time). Ms. Christiansen said at no time were the people or children at Chatham Park in danger. Will keep updates on the site. The toy in question was a popular, realistic and scary-looking spring gun like this: From a distance, the handgun can look like it is made from a light chrome metal, lending the appearance of a real gun. If one is unfamiliar with firearms and toy firearms with bright plastic tips, it is understandable how one can confuse the toy with a lethal weapon. As far as we know, these toys are banned from school premises. We'll keep you updated on this aspect or if the toy guns are banned in this township. Please contact us via our Facebook page or our Contact page here if you have any further questions or statements. UPDATE: April 2, 2014: Havertownies.com spoke with Officer Shant Bedrossian. The order of events seems to mostly jibe with Ms. Christiansen's account. Here are some more details: Citizen from an undisclosed location in Haverford Township spotted a boy with a weapon and tipped off police. Going on description of the boys and general last reported direction, officers stopped the boys at Chatham Park Elementary school. When questioned about the gun, the boys at … [Read more...]