Prosecutors said Monday that 20 employees of a charter school in the Philadelphia region were charged with failing to report allegations of child abuse.
According to court filings filed by the Chester Township Police Department, security footage from about 100 occurrences at Chester Community Charter School’s West Campus in November and December involved 26 people, according to the district attorney’s office.
In a statement, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer’s office stated that the victims, who were in grades K–5, were enrolled in the school’s emotional support program. According to the DA’s office, several of them were only five years old.
At a press conference on Monday, Stollsteimer claimed to have seen security footage of the purported abuse.
“There are nine individuals who have surveillance video that I’ve watched putting their hands on children, some as young as 5,” Stollsteimer stated. “Oftentimes, you can see them using their knee to take a child to the ground.”
According to Stollsteimer, official charges were submitted on Monday morning.
According to court documents, police filed initial accusations in state court on March 25 after two students’ families separately expressed concerns to the school on January 9 and January 10.
According to a police affidavit submitted in support of charges, an unnamed parent claimed that their 7-year-old son was terrified to attend school because two staff members had physically restrained children in a campus “positive support room” as part of the school’s Team Approach to Achieving Academic Success program.
According to the affidavit, relatives of a second 7-year-old kid came forward the following day with similar grievances.
According to the affidavit, investigators found consistent reports that staffers employed “shoulder work” to obtain physical compliance from students. This included pinching pressure points on the neck, placing children in holds with their arms crossed in front of them, and pushing knees into students’ backs.
Nine defendants were charged with conspiracy, simple assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child, and failing to report endangering the welfare of a child, according to the DA’s office.
The defendants were accused of abusing or having physical contact with children.
Failing to notify the alleged endangerment was the charge against eleven defendants.
According to a statement from the school, three of the people accused of failing to report are staff members who were put on leave while additional investigation was conducted.
People with numerous counts of each charge are included in both groupings of defendants. According to police, the second group included “teachers” and a “dean of students.”
Dahkeem Williams is listed as the school’s dean of students on its website.
Stollsteimer’s office stated in a statement that while none of the accused were in jail, others had made plans to turn themselves in.
Most defendants’ attorneys were not listed in online court documents.
“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 stated in the DA’s statement.
According to Stollsteimer, state law requires anyone who works in a school setting to report child abuse.
The affidavit states that none of the individual instances of employing physical contact for compliance were reported, which is required by state regulations.
“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 stated.
17 of those charged work for Peak Performers, which the school claimed in a statement took over the emotional support job of a prior, “highly reputable” contractor after that contractor stopped providing the services the school was using.
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The school claimed that although it had been guaranteed that the Peak Performers staff members had received the appropriate instruction on how to interact physically with pupils, it later discovered that they had not.
The school claimed to have been “duped” by Peak Performers and described itself as an anonymous victim in the case.
“CCCS plans to pursue all appropriate legal recourse against Peak Performers for the reckless and dangerous manner in which it operated,” according to the school. “CCCS leaders are outraged at the actions and inactions of Peak Performers and stands in solidarity with the other victims.”
Chester Community Charter School claimed to be Pennsylvania’s biggest physical charter school in 2018. The four-campus, K–8 school claims to have over 4,000 pupils enrolled. About 22 miles southwest of Philadelphia’s Center City sits Chester Township.
This information has been sourced from NBC News.
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