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Twenty members of staff have been charged following roughly a hundred abuse incidents at a Philadelphia charter school, according to prosecutors.
Surveillance footage captured the incidents at Chester Community Charter School’s West Campus in November and December, the Chester Township Police Department said in court documents. The district attorney’s office said 26 victims were involved in grades K-5 and were part of the school’s emotional support program, with some of the victims just 5 years old.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Monday that he watched the surveillance footage.
“There are nine individuals who have surveillance video that I’ve watched putting their hands on children, some as young as 5,” he said, according to NBC News. “Oftentimes, you can see them using their knee to take a child to the ground.”
The district attorney said the formal charges were filed Monday morning. Police filed the initial charges in state court on March 25 after the families of two students separately shared their concerns with the school on January 9 and 10, court documents reveal.
One parent, who is not named, said their son, aged 7, was scared to go to school because two members of staff had employed physical holds on children in a “positive support room” on the campus, which was part of a school program known as Team Approach to Achieving Academic Success, a police affidavit stated.
The affidavit noted that the relatives of another 7-year-old boy came forward the following day with similar concerns.
Investigators revealed that they found that members of staff had used “shoulder work” such as pinching pressure points on the neck, and putting children in holds with their arms crossed in front of them, as well as pushing knees into children’s backs, according to the affidavit.
A sign stands outside the Chester Community Charter School on Monday. Twenty school staffers have been charged in connection with incidents of abuse against students
A sign stands outside the Chester Community Charter School on Monday. Twenty school staffers have been charged in connection with incidents of abuse against students (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Nine defendants face allegations of having had physical contact with children, and 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, according to the DA’s office.
Eleven defendants were charged with failing to report the alleged incidents. The school said in a statement that three of those charged with failure to report are school staffers who have been placed on leave.
Chester Township Police Chief Kenneth Coalson said in a statement: “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.”
The dean of students is listed as Dahkeem Williams, whose lawyer told NBC Philadelphia: “We take great exception to the district attorney’s statement that ‘all the adults charged are equally guilty in failing to protect these children.’”
Stollsteimer said: “This is just unacceptable behavior to happen anywhere, but particularly in a school setting for children who are supposed to be getting emotional support.”
According to the district attorney, most of the defendants work for a contractor called Peak Performers Staffing LLC. The Chester Community Charter School has said that it has ended its relationship with the company.
In a statement, the school said 17 of those charged work for the company. The school said it was told that company staff were trained in physical contact with students, but that they subsequently found out that that wasn’t the case, saying it had been “duped.”
The school said it “plans to pursue all appropriate legal recourse against Peak Performers for the reckless and dangerous manner in which it operated,” according to NBC News.
It added that school “leaders are outraged at the actions and inactions of Peak Performers and stand in solidarity with the other victims.”