Senior High

A Message to the ETSD Community Regarding Escaped Inmate Danelo Cavalcante

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Dear Exeter Families,

In our partnership with the Exeter Township Police Department, we have been actively monitoring the situation in northern Chester County and the search for the escaped inmate, Danelo Cavalcante. As many of you may be aware, in consultation with law enforcement, the Owen J. Roberts school district closed today following a reported sighting of a man believed to be Cavalcante in an area near their schools last night. Law enforcement also believes that he now has a firearm.

At this time, we have been assured there is no direct threat to the Exeter community and the search area for Cavalcante has not moved into Berks County. In our steadfast commitment to the safety and security of our school community, we want to assure you that our district’s Safety & Security Coordinator, Eric Seidel, as well as central office administrators, are in constant contact with the Exeter Township Police Department to receive the latest information and developments in the search for Cavalcante.

In consultation with the Exeter Police, we have been informed that there is no reason to change or disrupt the normal operations of our schools at this time. Unless otherwise advised, we will continue to hold outdoor athletics and activities (recess, physical education classes) for our students while we remain vigilant and watchful.

The PA State Police would like to reinforce the following security measures for community members to increase your awareness and caution:
Residents in the area are asked to continue to lock all external doors and windows, secure vehicles, and remain indoors. Please review your surveillance cameras and contact police if you observe anything suspicious. If you see him, do not approach. Call 911 immediately. Please call (717) 562-2987 with general tips and information.

Cavalcante is described as a male of Hispanic descent, approximately 5’0” in height and clean shaven. We’ve attached police-released photos of him. If you believe you have seen Cavalcante, please call 911 immediately.

The Exeter Township Police Department will continue to be a presence around our schools and our schools will continue to implement our universal safety procedures and protocols that are designed to keep our students and our staff in one of the safest and securest locations in the area.

Thank you.

Exeter Again Named a Best Community for Music Education

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The Exeter Township School District was grateful and humbled to have been chosen once again as a Best Community for Music Education by the NAMM Foundation--an honor bestowed upon fewer than 800 schools throughout the nation who demonstrate outstanding efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, students and community leaders who have made music education part of a well-rounded education. This is the 11th year that Exeter's received this honor, which is something that the Exeter's music department is especially proud to have received. "The recognition that we received is about the community. It's not just about our music department. It's all of the teachers, all of the parents, all of the students, all of the administrators and everybody who lives and works in Exeter," said Mrs. Melissa Crotty, the Junior High's music teacher and Exeter's music department chair.

Throughout local, regional and state events and performances, Exeter musicians won numerous accolades and ratings--proving yet again they were worthy of NAMM's awards. Below, our music department is thrilled to present the following highlights of this year's accomplishments by our musicians:

Senior High Marching Band

  • The marching band enjoyed an active season performing our field show, “Finding Joy.” The music utilized themes from Beethoven and Dvorak’s 9th symphonies as well as other motives of musical joy. We are proud of the progress we made over the fall season. We are looking forward to the upcoming Memorial Day parade and honoring military families during the Exeter Township ceremony at Forest Hills. We are thrilled and looking forward to marching in Disney’s Magic Kingdom in December. Be sure to look out for our new uniforms later this fall!

Senior High Concert Band

  • Since December, members of the concert band have enjoyed a more active winter and spring. The band was represented by Rob Tufariello (percussion), Nathan Bayer (French horn), Marissa Millar (trumpet), Faith Feldman (bass clarinet), Riley Mazur (trumpet), Ryan Cherry (trombone), and Ava Diaz (clarinet) in various MEBC and PMEA honors band festivals. In the month of March, the band traveled to Temple University to participate in the school of music’s Festival of Winds where we performed in the Temple Performing Arts Center and received clinics from world class musicians and conductors. This year’s spring concert culminated with a side by side performance with the historic Ringgold Band. It was an honor to perform with them in concert and also receive valuable feedback from respected community musicians.

Senior High Jazz Band

  • The jazz band enjoyed great success this past winter and spring having performed at the Reading Royals, the Kuztown High School Jazz Festival, the Twin Valley High School Festival and the inaugural Get JazzED scholastic jazz show at the internationally known Berks Jazz Fest in March. The band had the honor of performing at the DoubleTree Hotel, receiving valuable feedback from world class musicians and getting an amazing experience performing on a professional, world class stage. The band is definitely looking forward to returning to the Berks Jazz Fest next year and making it a tradition for the Exeter program. Several band members were also recognized at our jazz shows for outstanding solo performances with the band: Ryan Cherry, Esteban Ruiz-Velazquez, and Rob Tufariello. We will conclude the school year with a Summer Send-Off Concert on Thursday, June 1st. This concert will be an outdoor performance at Owatin Creek’s amphitheater beginning at 6:30pm. Bring chairs, blankets, and your own food as we play into the evening with other Exeter musical acts.

Senior High Orchestra

  • Orchestra has had a very good year for the 2022-2023 school year. We had a very successful Winter Concert. String Jam was a hit this year featuring all grade levels in the main gym, culminating in a performance of William Tell. In addition to our three major concerts, the Orchestra was thrilled to play for the Reiffton School. This year we had 14 students make Senior County Orchestra, 17 students make Junior County Orchestra, 2 students make District Orchestra, and 1 student make Region Orchestra. We are very proud of the achievements of these students.
  • For our Chamber Strings students we enjoyed playing this year for the National Honors Society Induction Ceremony, and playing for the Reading Royals Exeter night along with our Junior High School chamber strings friends.
  • We are excited to begin preparing for our trip to Disney World next school year.

Senior High Chorus & Concert Choirs

  • The Senior High Chorus and Concert Choirs adjusted to having a long term sub while their chorale teacher was on sabbatical. They spent classroom time learning some basic music theory as well as preparing music for 2 concerts in December and May. The following students participated in the Berks County Music Festival for grades 10-12: Rob Tuffariello, Tyler Casiano, Collin Warner, Ryan Claudfelter, Rebecca Cherry, Sarah McCarthy and Raelin Tufariello. The following freshmen were selected and participated in the Berks Junior County Music Festival: Kaelyn Reynolds, Leoni Choy, Ava Diaz and Gavin Isselmann. Four students were selected and participated in the District 10 music festival: Rebecca Cherry, Ryan Claudfelter, Rob Tuffariello, and Tyler Casiano. Rebecca Cherry also was selected for the Regional Choral Festival. 

Senior High Eaglaires

  • The EagleAires performed for the Exeter senior citizens’ annual spring meeting in March, as well as in the school concerts and pep rallies throughout the year.   

Junior High Chorus 

  • We had a very busy year performing at the Reading Royals, PA Renaissance Fair, the PA State Capitol as part of Music in our Schools Month, and the Fightin Phils. We competed in Hershey’s Music in the Parks where we placed 1st and earned the rating of Excellent. We also had nine students selected to participate in District 10 Intermediate Songfest and 14 students selected to perform with Berks County JHS County Chorus.

Junior High Orchestra

  • Junior High School Orchestra has had another successful year. Our Winter Concerts were highly successful, and String Jam was a thrill. During String Jam, both the 7th and 8th grade students enjoyed combining to play together. We enjoyed playing for the Reading Royals Exeter Night along with our SHS Chamber Orchestra friends. We also competed in Hershey;s Music in the Parks where we placed 1st in our division, 1st overall, and earned the rating of Superior. We had 17 students participate in Junior County Orchestra and one of our Bass players was chosen to participate in District Band on String Bass. We wish the 8th graders a great Senior High School musical experience.

Junior High Band

  • The Exeter Junior High School bands had an enjoyable and successful year. The 7th and 8th grade band members started the year by performing with the high school marching band at a football game. We have had two successful concerts and the year ended with the 8th grade band competing in Music in the Parks and Hershey and we placed in 2nd and received an excellent rating. Four of our band members represented our school at the Junior County Band festival and two members participated in PMEA District 10 band.

Elementary Schools

  • Reiffton Chorus performed in the Winter and Spring concerts. Eight students participated in the first ever Elementary Choral Festival in March at Oley Valley Middle School.
  • Elementary Strings and Band performed in their Winter and Spring concerts.

Individual Recognitions:

Senior High Orchestra:

  1. Frank Conte - MEBC Senior County Orchestra, PMEA District Orchestra, PMEA Regional Orchestra
  2. Emily Holliday - MEBC Senior County Orchestra, PMEA District Orchestra
  3. Nathan Bayer - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  4. Esteban Ruiz - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  5. Macy Feather - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  6. Tyler Casiano - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  7. George Hajj - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  8. Carson Frederick - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  9. Jordan Wolfe - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  10. Zach Kauffman - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  11. Charlotte Rismiller - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  12. Katie Hoover - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  13. Dylann Backenstoss - MEBC Senior County Orchestra
  14. Kendall Druzba, MEBC JHS County Orchestra
  15. Simon Bolich, MEBC JHS County Orchestra
  16. Evan Harvey, MEBC JHS County Orchestra
  17. Peyton Klein, MEBC JHS County Orchestra
  18. Ava Diaz, MEBC JHS County Orchestra
  19. Andrew Schwenck, MEBC JHS County Orchestra

Senior High Band: 

  1. Nathan Bayer - MEBC Senior County Band, PMEA District Band, PMEA Regional Band
  2. Robbie Tufariello - MEBC Senior County Band, PMEA District Band
  3. Faith Feldman - MEBC Senior County Band
  4. Riley Mazur - MEBC Senior County Band
  5. Ryan Cherry - MEBC Senior County Band
  6. Ava Diaz - MEBC JHS County Band
  7. Marissa Millar - MEBC JHS County Band

Senior High Choir:

  1. Becky Cherry - MEBC Senior County Chorus, PMEA District Chorus, PMEA Regional Chorus
  2. Robbie Tufariello - MEBC Senior County Chorus, PMEA District Chorus,
  3. Tyler Casiano - MEBC Senior County Chorus, PMEA District Chorus
  4. Ryan Claudfelter - MEBC SHS County Chorus, PMEA District Chorus
  5. Sarah McCarthy - MEBC SHS County Chorus
  6. Raelin Tufariello - MEBC SHS County Chorus
  7. Collin Warner - MEBC SHS County Chorus
  8. Daniel Pack - MEBC SHS County Chorus
  9. Ava Diaz, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  10. Leoni Choy, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  11. Kaelyn Reynolds, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  12. Gavin Isselmann, MEBC JHS County Chorus

Junior High Orchestra: 

  1. Logan Davis, 8th grade, Violin 1
  2. Dang Nguyen, 8th grade, Violin 1
  3. Aubrey Pallet, 8th grade, Violin 1
  4. Callista Schlappich, 8th grade, Violin 2
  5. Samantha Shipley, 8th grade, Viola,
  6. Morgan Kauffman, 8th grade Viola
  7. Gavin Skimski, 8th grade, Viola
  8.  Grace Campling, 8th grade, Bass 1st chair
  9. Michael Jordan, 7th grade, Bass
  10. Lilly Jordan, 7th grade, Bass
  11. Edward Farrar, 8th grade, Bass
  12. Jillian Crotty, 8th grade, French Horn, 1st chair
  13. Adam Crotty, 8th grade, Trombone

Junior High Band:

  1. Jillian Crotty - MEBC JHS County Band, PMEA District Band
  2. Adam Crotty - MEBC JHS County Band
  3. Michael Jordan, MEBC JHS County Band
  4. Grace Campling, MEBC JHS County Band, PMEA District Band

Junior High Chorus:

  1. Evianna Jones, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  2. Jacinda Motley, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  3. Samantha Shipley, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  4. Julianna McCarthy, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  5. Jillian Crotty, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  6. Callista Schlappich, MEBC JHS County Chorus, PMEA Intermediate Songfest
  7. Grace Campling, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  8. Logan Willauer, MEBC JHS County Chorus, PMEA Intermediate Songfest
  9. Kaleb Schlappich, MEBC JHS County Chorus, PMEA Intermediate Songfest
  10.  Tanner Garrett, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  11. Eddie Farrar, MEBC JHS County Chorus, PMEA Intermediate Songfest
  12. Ajus Singh, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  13. Adam Crotty, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  14.  Logan Hellwig, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  15. Yuvraj Singh, MEBC JHS County Chorus
  16. Taylor Mack - PMEA Intermediate Songfest
  17. Modallys Martinez - PMEA Intermediate Songfest
  18. Giulia Weisser - PMEA Intermediate Songfest
  19. Kiana Whetzel - PMEA Intermediate Songfest

6th Grade Songfest

  1. Matthew Bardi,  
  2. Ava Burkhart, 
  3. Claire Delewski, 
  4. Aurora Elias, 
  5. Mason Foster, 
  6. Colette Jordan, 
  7. Melanie Karasek, 
  8. Joelle Stoltzfus

Reading Music Foundation Merit Scholars: 

  1. Harrison Brumbaugh, cello, 9th grade
  2. Scarlet Jordan, violin, 3rd grade
  3. Ryan Li, violin, 6th grade
  4. Michael Jordan, bass, 7th grade
  5. Grace Campling, bass, 8th grade
  6. Colette Jordan, flute, 6th grade
  7. Molly Nemirow, Exeter Alum
  8. Robert Tufariello, percussion, 12th grade
  9. Esteban Ruiz-Velazquez, jazz, 10th grade

History Teachers Have Their Own History in Exeter

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the burkhart family stands above the stadium

Matt & Dena Burkhart stand with their children, Cole, Ava and Logan, above Don Thomas Stadium at the Exeter Township Senior High school. 

couple stands in front of lockers

Matt & Dena Burkhart stand by the lockers where they initially met at the Junior High. 

In the fall of 1995 at Exeter Township Junior High, seventh graders Matthew Burkhart and Dena Caldwell met on the first day of school when their alphabetically-ordered last names caused their lockers to be placed opportunely next to each other. Over the course of the next few days, a young Matt and Dena became friends. And soon afterwards, a couple. And despite the lack of longevity in young romances, Matt and Dena defied all odds as they continued to date through junior high, and then high school. By the time they reached their senior year, they were selected to be on prom court together, and their classmates bestowed the adorable title of “cutest couple” to them in their yearbook (incidentally, it’s a title that we’re sure they’d still earn today). 

After their 2001 graduation from Exeter, Matt chose to pursue a baseball scholarship at Tusculum University in Tennessee. Dena stayed closer to home to study at Lebanon Valley College. After a year, Matt decided to move closer to home to study education and play baseball at DeSales University. As Dena was finishing up her post-baccalaureate work and student teaching, Matt proposed, presenting Dena with a ring and a desk plaque that said “Mrs. Burkhart” that still sits on the corner of her desk today. They married a year and a half later.

Today, 28 years after the day they met in the hallway of Exeter Township Junior High, it seems no accident that Matt and Dena both love to teach history. After all, they share so much of it together in the same buildings and the same classrooms where they now inspire the next generation of Eagles. The Exeter community is so much a part of their love story, too: Despite initially getting teaching jobs in other districts, both Matt and Dena jumped on teaching opportunities to return to Exeter where they once met and dated. And despite buying their “forever” home in Douglassville, Dena says that when it came time for her three kids–Ava (grade 6), Logan (grade 4) and Cole (kindergarten)–to attend school, she couldn’t envision them not attending the same schools where their young relationship first began. “Matt looked at me one night in our old house and was like, ‘We can stay in Daniel Boone, or you can put a for sale sign out.’ So we put our house on the market and sold it in six days and moved to Exeter.”

Dena continues, “There are just so many opportunities here in Exeter that we couldn’t imagine not raising our kids here. The teachers that are here–yes, we know them since we work with them–but we see that dedication and the special connections they have with students and we know they'll go that extra distance for students here. It’s the extracurricular clubs, the sports, the educational opportunities such as AP and Honors programs… What we have here and what opportunities we had ourselves as kids was a huge reason we decided we wanted to raise our family here,” she says. “We love Exeter–we really do.”

District to Host Drug Awareness Workshop for Families in January

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picture of assorted edibles and vapes
picture of edibles
picture of teachers crowded around a table

“This,” said Exeter Township Detective Sergeant Rocco DeCamillo as he pointed to a table filled with confiscated THC-laced gummies, brownies, cookies and treats, “was not manufactured to appeal to adults. It was manufactured to look like candy to appeal to kids.” 

As part of the district’s professional development sessions with educators and staff last month, Detective Sergeant DeCamillo spent his day walking teachers, administrators and staff through the ever-complex and constantly-changing landscape of what drugs police are seeing being sold and being used in Exeter Township by adults and minors alike. “Things have drastically changed in the last 20 years. When the majority of us were in high school, marijuana was natural and looked like pot. Now, there’s so much synthetic stuff out there that’s chemically-produced with no regulation or oversight–and much of it’s been disguised to look like candy.”

Superintendent Dr. Christy Haller and Assistant Superintendent Mrs. Dawn Harris organized the session with Detective Sergeant DeCamillo and the district’s Student Services Coordinator, Mrs. Alycia Lenart, to bring a greater awareness to teachers of what’s out there, what it looks like, and how to engage students and their families with help for substance abuse. The sessions proved to be so popular with educators that Detective Sergeant DeCamillo and Mrs. Lenart decided to offer a similar session to parents and families so that they, too, could learn what police are seeing in the local community, and how to receive support through the district when families are faced with substance abuse. The parent and family session will be held on Thursday, January 12, 2023 at 7PM in Exeter Township Senior High School’s Large Group Instruction (LGI) room. 

During his presentation to teachers, Detective Sergeant DeCamillo said navigating the “new normal” of drug use and drug accessibility is not easy. Oftentimes, he said as he pointed to all of the items on the table, local retailers don’t even know what’s legal to sell and what isn’t since laws vary from state to state. “Most of this stuff is perfectly legal in New Jersey,” he said. Mrs. Lenart added, “I think there’s also a perception that since it’s legal in certain states, it must be perfectly safe, and it’s really not,” she said, as she ticked off statistics that indicate that 90% of ER admittance for marijuana or THC overdoses are from edibles. “It takes anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours for kids to feel the effect from an edible. Since most teens don’t have great patience, they think it’s not working, so they eat more, and more and more and then wind up in the hospital. That’s why it’s so important to bring awareness to this very scary issue.”

Budget Workshops Announced

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As the Exeter Township School District begins to shape the budget for the 2023-24 school year, the District will hold a series of workshops to discuss budget topics with the community. Parents, taxpayers and all members of the Exeter community are invited to join us for these meetings. The schedule for the next two upcoming workshops and topics are below. The District will also post a synopsis of each budget workshop on our website shortly after each meeting.

The next two meetings are scheduled for:

October 26th at 6PM
Location: Junior High
Topic: Overview and Purpose of Workshop Meetings/Index Review

November 30th at 6PM
Location: Senior High
Topic: Revenue