Weeks later, no answers on Wyncote Academy arson

Lenora Osborne was driving down Washington Lane in Cheltenham when she saw it.

All that was left of Wyncote Academy, the private school her son attended in a 19th-century mansion, was a smoldering shell.

"I saw this devastation and I went into total shock," Osborne recalled about that day in March.

Then the news grew more shocking: Investigators ruled the blaze arson. Multiple fires had been set in the building, the fire marshal said.

Six weeks later, questions remain for the small, close-knit Montgomery County school: Who set the fire, and why?

Police have interviewed staff, teachers, and others. But they say they have no suspects or fingerprints and few leads.

"It's really just unfathomable," said Kerry Leraris, head of school. "Who would want to burn down a school?"

Cheltenham Police Chief John Norris said he believed the fire may have been set by someone with a grudge against Wyncote.

"We're assuming that, but that's not proven," he said.

Leraris said she would be shocked if the arsonist was affiliated with Wyncote, which has a family-like community. "It is shocking and deeply saddening if that is what it turns out to be," she said. "But in my heart I still would not believe that."

Wyncote Academy was founded in 1973 to prepare students with learning disabilities for college. Today, some students are referred to Wyncote because they have learning disabilities. Others have been victims of bullying in public schools, and some simply benefit from individual attention.

Its 65 students attend classes that are rarely larger than six students, and teachers are known by their first names.

After the fire, the staff scrambled to set up in a leased hallway at Gratz College, two miles from its old building. Given Wyncote's mission and student population, Leraris said it was especially troubling that someone would burn it down. The school is "a safe place for kids," she said.

Leraris said she and another teacher had stayed at work until 7:30 p.m. on March 13, the night before the fire. They were making plans for an event to raise money to buy laptops.

Less than 12 hours later, firefighters arrived. Wyncote had no surveillance cameras or security alarms, but its emergency alert system was triggered by the fire. Teachers stood in the rain for hours that Saturday, watching the 1880s-era stone mansion go up in flames.

"Numerous fires" were set inside, said Cheltenham Fire Marshal Joseph O'Neill. The most damaging blaze started in the lunchroom, he said.

That cozy, chestnut-paneled room is now "a giant hole," Leraris said.

The second-story classrooms collapsed, as did the slate roof. Decades of work, supplies, memories were reduced to ashes.

When Osborne, the Wyncote parent from Northeast Philadelphia, told her son about the blaze, he retreated to his bedroom. This school year had been the first time 11-year-old Elijah enjoyed going to school, she said, and he is thriving in the small environment.

"He couldn't understand who would do something like that," Osborne said. "Why would someone burn the school down?"

Susan Holland, whose son Timo is in ninth grade, said she had been pleased with the staff's dedication to keep the school going and did not worry the arsonist might have ties to Wyncote.

"We were so saddened by it, that somebody would do something like that," she said. "But our school is more than bricks and mortar."

Leraris described Wyncote an alternative for students who struggle in a traditional school environment. Eighty percent of its graduates go to college; this year's senior class has a national merit scholar.

Tuition costs about $26,000 per year; Leraris said most students receive financial aid or use scholarship tax credits.

After the fire, alumni contacted the school to reconnect, share memories, and organize reunions.

"I was heartbroken for the memories that I have that were there," said Stephanie Katz, a 2000 graduate who went on to cosmetology school and who now lives in Bucks County.

Last week, Leraris sat in her new office at Gratz College and said she hoped to rebuild Wyncote. She said the school community had been lucky in at least one way.

"It happened on the weekend," she said, "and no one was hurt."

Outside, volunteers from Manor College unloaded boxes of donated books. Later that afternoon, IMS Health delivered 30 donated laptops.

"Same teachers, same lessons," said Michael Bason, a 17-year-old junior. "Everybody resumed where they left off."

Still, students said they missed the old building, the weekly field trips - they were put on hold after the fire - and a go-kart lost in the blaze.

"The building was exactly like a home," said Penny Young, whose son is a senior. "It wasn't a school."

After investigators sifted through the crumbling building, some staff members were permitted to enter in hard hats.

"It was awful," said Diane Vernon, a Wyncote founder and its first head of school. "It was cold, it was dark because the windows were all blocked off, and it was drippy."

From musty offices, they took files and rescued student artwork - now hanging in charred and water-damaged frames at Gratz College.

"I thought it was going to be this terrible emotional pull," Vernon said of the fire. "But it wasn't, because really . . . the school has just come together so strongly."

Still, Vernon called the fire a "wrenching loss." She said she hoped to learn the arsonist's identity or motive. "It would be comforting to know."