Adventure Hall, on the campus of Chester Community Charter School where alleged rampant child abuse has been taking place. (Credit: CCCS website)
Allegations of child abuse at Chester Community Charter School have led to 20 employees facing charges, Tuesday.
Chester Township police reviewed surveillance video from inside multiple classrooms after being notified of one suspected case of child abuse back in January.
What they found was even more disturbing.
Upon review, police reported approximately 100 cases of abuse against 26 different children, including some as young as 5-years-old, taking place at the campus located on the 2700 block of Bethel Road.
Some of these incidents occurred inside what is called the "positive support room," and were committed by members of the school's staff known as "positive support facilitators," who are supposed to be trained in working with students in Grades kindergarten through fifth grade who need emotional support.
The video reviewed by the police were from November and December of 2024. More video is being reviewed and more charges may be pending.
Two of the accused, Kabree Daniels and Raymon Harris, have been suspended by the school pending an investigation. They have been charged with allegedly restraining children improperly.
According to an affidavit, Daniels and Harries allegedly restrained students by forcibly grabbing the students in the neck and shoulder area and also pinning them to the ground.
Police say several of the individuals arrested were employees of Peak Performers Staffing, which allegedly train their employees, but the police indicated that none of those arrested had their training up to date.
A total of nine staff members were charged with abuse while an additional 11 were charged for not reporting the abuse despite being mandated reporters by the law,
An original complaint was made with the school by the parent of a 7-year-old student on Jan. 9. The parent had contacted the school's director of special programs, Denis Monzione, to express concerns about how their child was being treated, especially in the "positive support room."
Monzione passed on the parent's concerns to school principal Philip Meitner, only to have another 7-year-old student complain to the school about similar treatment the very next day.
In response to the charges being filed against so many employees, Chester Community Charter posted a letter to parents on its website late Monday.
"CCCS has recently learned that several individuals, employees of a certified outside contractor formerly associated with the school, are being charged by local authorities for using disciplinary methods which are strictly prohibited by the school. The contractor is Peak Performers. 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. 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. CCCS has been completely cooperative with local authorities.
It is important to note that families of all affected students were promptly notified as soon as the school became aware of the allegations, and those families have all chosen to keep their students enrolled at CCCS because of the school's deep commitment to their education and wellbeing. No student is at risk and our entire CCCS community is committed to ensuring only the best practices to maintain a positive climate.
We also recently learned that three employees are being charged as part of this investigation for failing to report alleged misconduct. They have been suspended pending further investigation.
The health and safety of our students is always our top priority and that is why we acted quickly to ensure that students would not be further subjected to any unauthorized disciplinary methods. It is also important to know that CCCS requires that every employee who has direct contact with children complete mandated reporter training.
CCCS will continue to cooperate with any inquiry by local officials."
Along with Harris and Daniels, the other seven employees charged with multiple counts related to abuse of the children that included unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, simple assault, conspiracy, endangering the welfare of a child, and failure to report endangering the welfare of a child are Leroy Campbell, Christian Denny, Monica Griffin, Adrian Hospedale, Martin Mincey, Jr., Amaru Mohammed and Harry Woodhouse, Jr.
The eleven employees who are are all charged with one or more counts of failure to report the endangering the welfare of a child are Cyrus Barlee, Breshonna Belgrave, Deja Bennett-Allen, Arijah Clements, Neanne Edmonds, Maggie Moloney, Asia Pena, Daemon Pierce, Don'Neisah King Pierce, Ryan Ridley, and Dahkeem Williams.
