SCH child pornography case ignites hiring concerns at EA

Arjun Bhamra ’22

Maggie Lo ’23

Andrew Wolf, Springside Chestnut Hill Math Teacher, has allegedly obtained and distributed child pornography and is now under arrest by the FBI. SCH has fired Wolf, informed their community on what has happened, and is working to provide counselling to their students and teachers who ask for it. 

Wolf allegedly possessed multiple pornographic images on a Dropbox account linked to his school email, according to Philly Mag reporter Victor Fiorillo. Fiorillo also mentions that Wolf supposedly pretended to be a young girl on social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, so he could get young boys to send sexually explicit content. Prosecutors also believe that Wolf has taken non-pornographic photos of his students at SCH without their consent on school trips. 

According to Fiorillo, Wolf had also allegedly been using Telegram since 2018 with the username “Mr. Pickles” to talk with other predators and students, including some at SCH, to obtain more sexually explicit videos and photos.

Steve Druggan, SCH Head of School, shared a statement about the situation with parents, saying, “SCH follows strict protocols regarding our hiring and retention of all employees, including criminal background checks. We can confirm that Mr. Wolf’s background clearances are up-to-date and contained no information regarding prior criminal history. Moreover, we have never received any complaints or indications of improper conduct by Mr. Wolf.”

After learning about Wolf, EA students are shocked and unsettled. Anika Kakarla ‘23 says, “That is so incredibly disturbing. I didn’t think that that kind of thing would happen, especially in this area. It kind of makes me feel a little unsafe.” Bobby Albani ‘22 shares a similar view, saying, “To think that there is someone like this in a community close to us is incredibly terrifying. No one should be subjected to such a vile crime.”

Cindy Nichols, EA Human Resources Manager, explained that students should feel secure about EA’s teacher hiring practices. She explained that EA has an extensive list of requirements for every employee. Every potential hire must go through a similar process. They have to give Nichols fingerprint results, a criminal background check, and a child abuse clearance. The clearance must be approved within 60 months of the date of hire, but if the applicant does not have it, the school will pay for it. Volunteers for EA have the same requirements unless they can prove that they have lived in Pennsylvania for at least ten years, in which case they do not need to submit fingerprints.

Nichols also explained that the applicant must pass Act 168, the Employment History Review, which mandates that all of their current and former employers sign a questionnaire that confirms that they had no child abuse allegations at their previous employment; this law adds “another layer of protection.” All faculty members have to participate in reporter training for child abuse. Nichols mentions that for the most part, schools in the area have similar processes; therefore, the SCH case was surprising.

The fact that Wolf was caught by way of the online platform Dropbox also raises questions about cybersecurity. Paul Merchant, an EA Upper School Network Administrator, elaborates on some of the protective cybersecurity measures that EA has in place, saying, “We have what’s called a Palo Alto firewall, which has a lot of different profiles built into it for any internet or internal traffic. Computers connected to the internet have to go through these filters, and the firewall can block URLs, scan for viruses and spyware, and find other vulnerabilities using algorithms and definitions from Palo Alto. That’s our main tool to keep the network safe.”

When asked about EA’s ability to perform remote check-ins similar to Dropbox, Merchant explains, “We don’t have the implicit authority to do [remote check-ins on EA laptops]. We have the ability to, but all students getting a laptop have to agree to a Responsible Use Policy, so there’s a lot of trust there, trusting that people are only going to do the things they’re supposed to do. We do have the ability to see on people’s laptops, and every once in a while we [the Tech Department] will get approached by higher-ups that say ‘We think there may be inappropriate emails going around,’ and with that kind of permission, we look a little deeper into what’s going on.”

After learning about the protective measures put in place at EA, Kakarla says, “I think it’s really important that EA does all these things to ensure student safety. I like how they make the teachers submit those different documents because they’re adults working very closely with us kids… Those kinds of background checks definitely make me feel a lot better, but I also wonder whether Wolf had to go through the same thing. It’s still a little worrisome that people like him can be hired.”