Pennsylvania
Exclusive | Pennsylvania teacher running for Congress slams district’s response to middle schoolers’ TikTok abuse: ‘They chose to hide’
MALVERN, Pa. — Pennsylvania middle-school teacher-turned-GOP congressional candidate Neil Young has been at the forefront of a social-media scandal that enveloped his Chester County middle school, making national headlines this month.
An hour outside of Philly, at the end of the city’s wealthy Main Line, is the suburb of Malvern, Pa., where Great Valley Middle School students carried out an online harassment campaign against their teachers via TikTok.
The New York Times first reported on July 6 that a quarter of the school’s faculty members were victims of this abuse, in which “fake teacher accounts rife with pedophilia innuendo, racist memes, homophobia and made-up sexual hookups among teachers” circulated fraudulent content to TikTok pages hundreds of students follow.
Young, a veteran social studies teacher on sabbatical while running for Congress, is among the victims.
“I’m the guy who was in bed with another teacher,” Young told The Post, describing the fraudulent picture students circulated of him on TikTok. “What was done with me is not acceptable.”
Young — who is challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District, which covers Chester County and part of Berks County — is hoping to shine a spotlight on his colleagues who have shared their stories.
“The stuff that was said about some of these other teachers — just an unbelievable lack of empathy from the kids,” Young said, alluding to stories of fellow teachers defamed with insinuations of pedophilia or depicted in “cheapfake” images in sexual situations.
Houlahan — who briefly taught high school chemistry early in her career — addressed the scandal on the House floor last Thursday, calling students’ actions “inappropriate” regardless of circumstance.
“This wasn’t a prank, it was a blatant misuse of social media violating basic rules of human decency.” Houlahan said. “And it’s inappropriate, regardless of a child’s age or whether the school is public, charter or private.”
Houlahan did not acknowledge that her GOP opponent was one of the teachers victimized by fraudulent TikTok posts — something Young was quick to capitalize on.
“She doesn’t acknowledge that her opponent was one of the victims,” Young said.
“Instead she starts with, ‘As a former chemistry teacher,’ Young added. “She quit after one year and didn’t follow through on her Teach for America contract.”
Young’s gripes aren’t only with Houlahan’s handling of the scandal, but the Great Valley School District also.
“Every step of the way, with the opportunity to bring in parents and support teachers, they chose to hide,” he said. “They refused to communicate to the whole district. They tried to do it [in] just isolated groups.”
And Young isn’t the only one who feels this way – just ask the 200+ people who showed up to the Great Valley school board meeting on Monday night demanding answers.
Teacher’s union president Nikki Salvatico was also there to make their position clear: the students’ actions should not be dismissed as protected speech under the First Amendment.
Young said that the district may have been acting on advice from its solicitors that taking serious action against student perpetrators of the social media posts could lead to lawsuits regarding conduct outside the classroom. Still, he feels they missed the mark.
“The opportunity to set a strong precedent that we’re not going to accept this type of behavior, we’re not going to allow it to fall under the umbrella of free speech — that was their opportunity that they lost,” he said.
Courts have traditionally upheld students’ right to protected speech after school hours, such as in the Supreme Court’s “cursing cheerleader” decision back in 2021 — another case involving Pennsylvania teenagers and social media. But in that case, the student in question was posting on her own behalf and not attempting to falsely impersonate others.
Young thinks a handful of students were briefly suspended because teachers remained persistent with both the district and their union — despite both wanting to avoid escalating the situation.
It may be too little too late, per Young, who says the district soured its relationship with faculty and families as a result of poor communication.
“The community feels like they were in the dark. The parents feel like they were in the dark,” Young said. “Teachers feel unsupported.”
As for action to prevent similar abuse in the future, Young says teachers and parents need a seat at the table. He expressed concerns about government-mandated social-media restrictions for children — like Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick’s calls to ban children under 16 from socials — arguing enforcement would be challenging.
But at the top of this teacher’s mind is getting educators involved in the process rather than leaving it to the politicians.
“If legislation’s going to exist, it certainly should have input from teachers,” Young said.
A Pennsylvania man was arrested on animal cruelty charges for allegedly feeding marijuana and beer to his pet parakeet after bringing the injured feathered friend to a bar, according to reports.
Timothy Grace, 40, was busted on Feb. 21 after carrying his wounded pet budgie named “Blue Skies” in his pocket to Callaghan’s Bar in Greensburg, according to CBS Pittsburgh.
“The caller’s a bartender. She says there is a white male at the bar with a parakeet,” a dispatcher reported on the police radio transmissions obtained by the outlet.
“The patron was bragging to other people that were inside the bar that he feeds the parakeet marijuana and has it drink beer on a daily basis,” Detective Sergeant Justin Scalzo told the outlet.
Grace “appeared extremely intoxicated” when police showed up to the bar and found the pet bird in distress, according to court documents obtained by the outlet.
“Its leg appeared to be broken,” Scalzo said, according to WTAE. “Its foot was actually facing the wrong direction.”
Grave was initially arrested for public intoxication and now faces charges including aggravated cruelty to animals and transporting animals in a cruel manner, the outlet said.
The pet bird was brought to PEARL Parrot Rescue in the Pittsburgh area, which rushed him to an emergency care facility.
Blue Skies spent four days in the hospital and was later taken in to be fostered by Teri Grendzinski, the president of PEARL. The injured parakeet is still breathing hard, remains on antibiotics, and has to wear a splint on his right leg, CBS reported.
“They realized his leg was broken. He also had some respiratory issues going on,” Grendzinski told the outlet. “He was also very, very skinny.”
“The leg was broken badly enough there is a chance they’re going to have to amputate the leg if it doesn’t heal correctly,” she added.
If Blue Skies is eventually put up for adoption, he will require specialized care, the outlet said.
“When we got that call, it was horrifying. Why would you do that to a bird?” Grendzinski said.
A Pennsylvania man was found guilty of repeatedly raping his daughter’s best friend over a three-year span before fleeing with the teen to Mexico.
On Thursday, March 5, 2026, Kevin Esterly, 53, of Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, was convicted on all counts of rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary sexual intercourse and endangering the welfare of children.
Esterly shook his head as the verdict was read but said nothing in the courtroom.
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.
Esterly’s trial began on Tuesday, March 3, after a judge denied his pretrial motion for the charges against him to be dismissed and for the Lehigh County District Attorney to be removed as a prosecutor in the case.
Both Esterly and his victim testified on Wednesday, March 4.
The victim — who is now 24-years-old — told the courtroom that she met Esterly and his family while attending church as a child and became best friends with one of his daughters. Esterly was a youth leader and elder at the church at the time. The victim said Esterly also coached her soccer team.
The victim said she became so close to Esterly’s family that she called his wife “mom” and eventually spent almost every weekend at their home in Lowhill Township, Pennsylvania. She also said she vacationed with them in New York state and Ocean City, Maryland.
The victim said Esterly first sexually assaulted her in August 2015 when she was 13-years-old after he gave her alcohol during a family birthday party.
“I was scared. Frozen in fear,” the woman told the courtroom on Wednesday. “I pretended I was sleeping.”
The woman accused Esterly of sexually assaulting her almost every time she slept over at his home. She told the courtroom she eventually became addicted to alcohol and drugs, which Esterly gave her in exchange for sex. According to the woman, Esterly gave her cocaine and methamphetamine to keep her awake during school because she “would be up with him all night.”
The woman said Esterly continued to sexually assault her until he was confronted by his wife in 2017. Esterly’s wife then threw him out of the house, according to the victim. She said Esterly continued to sexually assault her over the next year.
Esterly was later arrested and then sentenced to prison after federal agents found him with the victim in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in 2018. She was 16-years-old at the time.
The woman said she moved on and went to college after Esterly’s sentencing though she still struggled with drug addiction. She said she sought counseling in February 2025. She told the courtroom she received a message from Esterly on LinkedIn that same month in which he apologized for “failing you as a person I was supposed to be for you.” At that point Esterly had been released from prison.
The woman said she had not told anyone about her relationship with Esterly up to that point and replied to him, “I live with our secret every day as I promised. I would appreciate an apology.”
The woman told the courtroom that Esterly responded by writing, “I hope one day you can forgive me. Nobody knows I reached out to you. That is the best for both of us.”
On Feb. 21, 2025, Allentown Police received a report of Esterly’s sexual assaults which led to the new charges being filed against him. He was arrested in West Virginia in June 2025 after two police pursuits. He was then extradited to Pennsylvania.
The victim told the courtroom on Wednesday that she kept quiet about Esterly’s abuse for years because she “was afraid to speak,” and felt “dirty and ashamed.”
“I wasn’t ready to tell anyone,” she said. “He was a father figure in my life. I loved him.”
The woman also said she didn’t want to hurt Esterly’s daughter who was her best friend.
When the District Attorney asked her why she was “here today,” she replied by saying, “I want to tell the truth. I want to be set free.”
The woman ended her testimony by saying, “I don’t want to live with this secret anymore.”
After her testimony, Esterly took the stand for 45 minutes, denied all of the accusations against him and accused the woman of lying.
Closing arguments then took place Thursday morning. It then took an hour for the jury of seven women and five men to reach their verdict.
Two women are dead in Pennsylvania and a man is dead in Illinois after an apparent murder-suicide, police said on Wednesday.
According to a report from the Pennsylvania State Police, the investigation began in Hillside, Illinois, when police there were dispatched after a man reported two women dead in Jackson Township, Pennsylvania. Police said that when officers got to Hillside, about 15 miles west of Chicago, they found that the man had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
After identifying him, troopers said Hillside officers contacted police from Jackson Township to request a welfare check at the man’s home on Dior Drive, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Police said officers used forced entry to get into the home and found two women dead from apparent gunshot wounds. It’s believed the two women were family members of the man who died by suicide in Illinois, investigators said.
Pennsylvania State Police said they’ve assumed control of the case and are “actively investigating” what happened surrounding the three deaths.
Police didn’t release any names, saying the process of formal identification and notification of next of kin hasn’t been completed. Sources told KDKA that the victims were a husband, wife and their daughter.
“At this time, investigators believe there is no ongoing threat to the public, and law enforcement is not searching for any additional individuals in connection with this incident,” police wrote in the public information release report. “This remains an active and ongoing investigation.”
State police didn’t release any other details on Wednesday but said more information will be made public when it’s available.
“My first reaction was shocked because this is such a close-knit neighborhood, and to think something that horrible could happen here is very tragic because they were such a good family,” neighbor Danielle Sporer said on Wednesday.
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