Following an investigation into child abuse and child endangerment against over two dozen elementary school pupils, District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer revealed Monday that twenty employees of a charter school in Delaware County had been prosecuted.
Stollsteimer stated in a press statement that the 20 individuals indicted were employed at Chester Community Charter School. Many of the 20 had made plans to turn themselves in, but Stollsteimer said he thought three of them were in jail as of Monday afternoon.
26 children, ages kindergarten through fifth grade, who participated in the school’s Team Approach to Achieving Academic Success program were the targets of several child abuse charges against the school staff.
On its website, the school describes its TAAS program as a “team approach to assessing and assisting students facing unique academic and behavioral challenges.” A “hallmark success” at Chester Community Charter School, the program is said to have been achieved by “implementing a highly effective method of intervention.”
When two parents told school administrators in January 2025 that their children were afraid to attend school and were being put in “holds” by staff, the inquiry into the personnel got underway.
According to our study, some employees were physically abusing youngsters while others just watched. According to Stollsteimer, “all the adults who are charged are equally guilty of failing to protect these children, some of whom are as young as five years old.”
The DA’s Office claims that nine of the 20 employees who were charged employed “techniques to restrain and punish children” that were a part of the school program.
The claimed abuse techniques included restraining students, squeezing them in pressure spots close to their necks, and threatening “shoulder work.” According to Stollersteimer, shoulder work entailed placing pupils in grips with their arms crossed in front of them, squeezing them on the pressure points by their necks, and then pushing a knee on their back until the student was on the ground.
According to Stollsteimer, security footage showed numerous instances of the abuse, including one in which he witnessed a staff member “jack a kid up against the wall.”
“This is just unacceptable behavior to happen anywhere, but particularly in a school setting for children who are supposed to be getting emotional support,” he stated.
Peak Performers Staffing, LLC, a Chester-based business co-founded by Jennifer Woodhouse and Emmanuel Gilbert, employed a large number of the staff members charged with child abuse. Although Woodhouse claimed that the Peak Performers had received training in safety care procedures, Stollsteimer noted that none of the staff members had the required current training when investigators requested documentation of the training in restraints and crisis avoidance measures.
The principal of Chester Community Charter School informed investigators that Pennsylvania regulations mandate that any use of safety holds be documented. But according to Stollsteimer, the school did not disclose any holds for 2024, a year with a high number of abuse incidents.
“As soon as school administrators learned that there was any possible violation of approved methods, it took swift and decisive action to terminate the contractor,” Chester Community Charter School said in a statement from the school. “CCCS employees who are alleged to have carried out such practices were also promptly terminated at that time, and any employees who might have had knowledge of the situation were placed on leave, pending further investigation.”
Families were informed as soon as they learned of the abuse claims, according to the school statement, and all of them have chosen to keep their children enrolled.
Chester Community Charter School said in a revised statement that it intends to take Peak Performers to court for the “reckless and dangerous manner it operated.” The school declared its support for the victims and its displeasure with Peak Performers’ behavior. The school posted a complete version of the statement online.
Raymond Harris, Kabree Daniels, Christian Denny, Martin Mincey, Jr., Harry Woodhouse, Jr., Amaru Mohammed, Leroy Campbell, and Adrian Hospedale are among the 20 individuals indicted, according to the DA’s Office. Don’Neisah King Pierce, Monica Griffin, Daemon Pierce, Ridley, Maggie, Dahkeem Williams, Asia Pena, Arijah Clements, Cyrus Barlee, Neanne Edmonds, Breshonna Belgrave, Deja Bennett-Allen, and Ryan Ridley.
Commitment, simple assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child, and failure to report harming the welfare of a child are among the charges against Harris, Daniels, Denny, Mincey, Woodhouse, Mohammad, Campbell, Hospedale, and Griffin.
The charges against Pierce, King-Pierce, Clements, Barlee, Edmonds, Belgrave, Bennett-Allen, Ridley, Moloney, Williams, and Pena include failing to disclose a situation that jeopardizes a child’s welfare.
According to Pennsylvania law, all 20 of these personnel have an obligation to report any suspicions of child abuse. The law requires them to report that,” Stollsteimer stated. “So by not reporting it, they violated the law.”
Authorities are still examining surveillance footage as part of the continuing inquiry, according to Stollsteimer. We are requesting that any parents of possible victims come forward.
“This is a systemic problem in this school where these kids in this program were living in fear, a lot of them,” he stated.
