School: Never saw signs of abuse in Scotty McMillan's brother
COATESVILLE, Pa. (WPVI) -- The Coatesville Area School District released a statement Monday pertaining to the brother of the little boy who, police say, was tortured and killed inside his Chester County home last week.
Superintendent Dr. Cathy Taschner said after learning of the death of 3-year-old Scotty McMillan and the alleged brutal abuse that was also inflicted on his 6-year-old brother, Ryan, an internal investigation was launched to see if staff saw any indications of abuse in Ryan, who attended kindergartener in the school district.
The investigation revealed that staff saw no signs of abuse.
The district attorney says over a two week span the boys' mother, Jillian Tait, and her boyfriend, Gary Fellenbaum, relentlessly beat the little boys - punching them in the head, face, chest and buttocks, hitting them with homemade weapons, and stringing them up by their feet and beating them.
Taschner's statement reads in part: "We are devastated by the horrors these boys endured. After our attorneys, the Levin Legal Group, conducted an internal investigation, we are confident our staff was not aware of the abuse, which is said to have primarily occurred over a two-week period during which the kindergartener was not in school."
The superintendent goes on to explain how whenever a child is absent, the school district tries a number of ways to make contact with the parents - through phone calls, written communication, and even a home visit - to determine the reason for the child's absence.
Taschner says in the case of Ryan McMillan, all of those procedures were followed.
"We have been training every employee to recognize signs of abuse, and in light of this horrific incident, we are renewing the call for staff and community members to report any signs of abuse," She said.
