Chester County principal accused of indecently assaulting teen student

A private school principal has been arrested on charges of indecent assault involving a teenage student.

George James Symonds, 62, was the head of school and a teacher at the Concept School in Thornbury Township, Chester County.

Symonds, of Wilmington, Delaware, had been a teacher since 2004 and the head of school - the equivalent of a principal - since 2012, DA Tom Hogan said.

He has since been fired and the school is cooperating, Hogan said.

Symonds is accused of the inappropriate contact with a student who was between 14 and 15 years old. The incidents happened between the spring of 2014 and the winter of 2015, while the victim was in 8th and 9th grades.

The victim said Symonds contacted him almost daily through text messages, emails and phone calls.

According to a news release from the DA's office:

"The defendant told the victim that he loved the victim, taught the victim how to masturbate, and informed the victim that the defendant thought of the victim while he masturbated.

The defendant would arrange to meet the victim in his office and in the bathroom to "hug" on numerous occasions, and would tell the victim "not to fight the love." While in the defendant's office, the defendant cupped the victim's buttocks with his hand. The defendant instructed the victim to delete all electronic communications between the two and told the victim not to tell anyone about their relationship. The defendant stated that he knew he could go to jail if people found out."

According to his profile on the Concept School's website, Symonds previously taught at Delaware County Community College and Delaware Technical Community College.

Symonds was arrested on Friday, July 3rd in Delaware and waived extradition to Pennsylvania.

He is free on 10% of $100,000 bail.

Anyone with further information is asked to contact Westtown-East Goshen Detective Jason Large at 610-692-9600.