Staffers charged in alleged abuse of 26 children at Philadelphia-area school
Twenty workers at a Philadelphia-area charter school were charged in connection with allegations of abuse of young children and failure to report it, prosecutors announced Monday.
The Chester Township Police Department said in court documents that security video captured roughly 100 incidents at Chester Community Charter School's West Campus in November and December involving what the district attorney's office said are 26 victims.
The victims, in grades K-5, were members of the school's emotional support program, the office of Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said in a statement. Some of them were as young as 5 years old, the DA's office said.
Stollsteimer said at a news conference Monday that he watched security video of the alleged abuse.
'There are nine individuals who have surveillance video that I've watched putting their hands on children, some as young as 5,' Stollsteimer said. 'Oftentimes, you can see them using their knee to take a child to the ground.'
Stollsteimer said formal charges were filed Monday morning.
Police filed initial charges in state court March 25 after family members of two students separately raised concerns to the school on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10, according to court documents.
An unnamed parent said their 7-year-old son was afraid to go to school because two staffers had used physical holds on children in a 'positive support room' on campus, part of a program at the school called Team Approach to Achieving Academic Success, according to a police affidavit filed in support of charges.
Relatives of another 7-year-old boy stepped forward the next day with similar complaints, the affidavit said.
Investigators said they found consistent accounts that staffers used 'shoulder work' — including pinching pressure points on the neck, placing children in holds with their arms crossed in front of them and pushing knees into students' backs — as a way of gaining physical compliance, the affidavit said.
Nine defendants alleged to have abused or had physical contact with children were charged with conspiracy, simple assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child and failure to report endangering the welfare of a child, the DA's office said.
Eleven defendants were charged with failure to report the alleged endangerment. Three of those charged with failure to report are school employees and were placed on leave pending further investigation, the school said in a statement.
Both groups of defendants include people with multiple counts of each charge. Police indicated a 'dean of students' and 'teachers' were among the second group.
On its website, the school lists the dean of students as Dahkeem Williams.
'We take great exception to the District Attorney's statement that 'all the adults charged are equally guilty in failing to protect these children,'' Williams' attorney, who also represents another defendant in the case, told NBC Philadelphia.
None of those charged were in custody, but some have made arrangements to surrender, Stollsteimer's office said in its statement.
Online court records did not list attorneys for most defendants. The public defender's office for Delaware County did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.
'I am proud that today we are holding the support staff, teachers, and even a dean of students accountable for abusing or failing to report the abuse, of vulnerable children,' Chester Township Police Chief Kenneth Coalson said in the DA's statement.
Stollsteimer noted that state law mandates reporting child abuse for those who work in school settings.
Individual incidents of using physical contact for compliance must each be reported under state regulations, and none were, according to the affidavit.
'This is just unacceptable behavior to happen anywhere, but particularly in a school setting for children who are supposed to be getting emotional support,' Stollsteimer said.
The school parent-teacher association did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.
The contractor for whom the DA said most of the defendants work, Peak Performers Staffing LLC, did not respond to a request for comment. Chester Community Charter School said it severed ties with the company and its workers.
The school said in a statement that 17 of those charged work for Peak Performers, which it said took over a previous, 'highly reputable' contractor's emotional support work after that contractor discontinued the services the school was using.
The school said it was assured the Peak Performers employees were properly trained in physical contact with students but later learned they had not completed the necessary training.
The school characterized itself as an unnamed victim in the case, saying it was 'duped' by Peak Performers.
'CCCS plans to pursue all appropriate legal recourse against Peak Performers for the reckless and dangerous manner in which it operated,' the school said. 'CCCS leaders are outraged at the actions and inactions of Peak Performers and stands in solidarity with the other victims.'
In 2018, Chester Community Charter School said it was the largest brick-and-mortar charter school in Pennsylvania. The K-8, four-campus school says it serves more than 4,000 students. Chester Township is about 22 miles southwest of Center City Philadelphia.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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