Crime & Safety

Phoenixville to Review Child Porn Warning Signs

The school district's administration, not the school board, will spearhead the assessment.

The Phoenixville Area School District administration is going to investigate what, if anything, it could have done differently regarding the case of former middle school principal Dr. Troy Czukoski, The Mercury is reporting.

Though the school board initially considered launching its own investigation into the district’s handling of the former employee who was charged with child pornography earlier this month, the board ultimately decided to allow the administration to execute the review, according to the Mercury.

“We’re simply going to ask the superintendent to come back to the board with a plan for performing this assessment,” school board president Joshua Gould told the paper.

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The assessment, Gould emphasized, would not be specific to Czukoski, but would involve the steps the district takes to “detect behavior” related to child pornography and similar issues.

Though the district has categorically denied that it knew anything about the charge against Czukoski until media reports surfaced on March 13, there has been speculation that PASD had suspicions. After seven years as principal of Phoenixville Area Middle School, Czukoski was moved into a post in district office in February of 2012, before leaving in the summer to take over as principal at Springton Lake Middle School in Media.

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In October, the US Attorney’s Office and Postal Service began an investigation of Czukoski. He was charged this month with possession of child pornography.

According to U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger, Czukoski possessed more than 150 but less than 300 images of children engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

The U.S. Attorney charges that:

"Czukoski knowingly possessed books, magazines, periodicals, films, video tapes and other matter, namely two flash drives, CDs and DVDs, which contained more than 150 but less than 300 visual depictions that had been produced using materials which had been shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce. The production of these visual depictions involved the use of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct and the visual depictions were of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct."

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rotella.

Previous Patch Coverage of the Czukoski Case:

  • Former Phoenixville Middle School Principal Moves to Springton Lake
  • Former Phoenixville Middle School Principal Under Federal Investigation
  • No Details on Federal Investigation of Former Middle School Principal
  • Child Porn Charge News to Phoenixville School District
  • Phoenixville School Board May Launch Czukoski Investigation


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