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Twenty staff members at a suburban Philadelphia Charter School are facing charges related to the alleged physical abuse of students who use painful, non -approved techniques to limit and punish youth in a program intended to help them deal with emotional issues, the authorities announced on Monday.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said the charges involved acts against 26 children in kindergarten until the fifth class at the Chester Community Charter School. Those charged are accused of physically abusing the students or failing to report suspected abuse.
Chester’s police investigations began after two parents complained to school officials in January that their children were afraid to attend the school for fear of being placed in “hous” by school staff.
“This matter is every parent’s nightmare. We send our children to school and expect the adults to keep them safe and not abuse them physically and emotionally,” Stollestimer said. “Our investigation has shown that some staff members physically abused children while others (adults) have passively watched and watched. All the adults charged are equally guilty of protecting these children, some as young as 5 years old.”
The district attorney said the alleged abuse took place in a program for children who needed help with their emotions in dealing with school life, fellow students and other situations.
The police investigation has determined that nine of the defendants used techniques to limit and punish children in the school’s emotional support program, he said.
Stollsteimer said it included painful techniques, such as pinching students at pressure points near their necks, keeping students in restrictions, placing them in a container with their arms in front of them and applied a knee to their backs until the student was brought to the ground.
Stollstimer said much of this abuse was captured on footage of the supervisory camera obtained and reviewed by investigators.
Those charged include several people employed by a private firm, Peak Performers Staffing. Stollsteimer said a founder of the company offered the school insurance that its staff was properly trained, but when investigators sought records to document staff training in the use of restrictions and/or crisis prevention techniques, it was taught that none of the staff’s staff had completed the required training.
Schools officials have confirmed to investigators that any use of a ‘security control’ must be reported under the state’s guidelines. But officials said that the school was not reported during 2024, when many of the abusive deeds allegedly took place.
Nine people have multiple charges, including conspiracy, illegal self -control, child threat and false imprisonment. The 11 others are charged with at least one score of failure to report child threat. All the defendants are classified under state law as a mandate of reporters of suspected child abuse incidents.
Some of those charged were in custody from Monday afternoon, and Stollsteimer said many others soon made arrangements to surrender.
Voicemail messages left for the school administration office on Monday, and at a phone number listed for peak performers, staff were not returned. However, the school released a statement stating that it fully worked with the police and terminated its contract with the company as soon as school administrators learned that there were possibly violations of approved disciplinary methods.
According to the statement, the employees of the school who are accused of participating in the abuse are, while those who were possibly aware of the alleged abuse on leave were fitted.
“Once school administrators have learned that there was any possible violation of approved (disciplinary) methods, it acted quickly and decisively to terminate the contractor,” the school statement says.
According to its website, the school was founded in 1998 and now serves more than 4,000 students in the Chester-Upland school district in Delaware County, which accounts for two-thirds of overall entries in the public school. It serves kindergarten up to the eighth class on four campuses.
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