Greensburg Salem teacher, aide charged in assaults of 3 Nicely Elementary students

A Greensburg Salem School District elementary teacher and her aide are accused of mistreating special needs students on multiple occasions by spraying lemon juice and a soap into the mouth of one child and restraining that child and two others with soundproofing mats, police said.

Brooke A. Stanko, 34, of Derry Township and Teri Kepchia, 58, of Hempfield are charged with three counts each of criminal conspiracy to endanger the welfare of children, six counts each of false imprisonment of a minor child, three counts each of simple assault, one count each of failure to report the incidents and multiple counts of child endangerment-failure to report, according to the criminal complaint filed Thursday by Greensburg Detective Justin Scalzo.

The children whom the women are accused of mistreating are 8, 7 and 6 years old, police said.

Stanko was a teacher for special needs students at Robert F. Nicely Elementary School and Kepchia was a teacher’s aide at the school on McLaughlin Drive when the incidents occurred on dates between Sept. 1 and Oct. 26.

Parents of students at the school were notified in November that some type of incident was being investigated. A letter authored by Superintendent Ken Bissell at time stated that a situation came to the attention of administrators Oct. 27. Parents of children in the involved classroom were notified, Bissell said in the letter.

The adults involved in the investigation were removed from the classroom during the investigation and weren’t working with children, Bissell said in the letter. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Kepchia admitted to police that Stanko directed her to spray the lemon juice and soapy water at one child, according to court papers.

Stanko was hired by the district in 2022 as a full-time special education teacher at a salary of $60,621, according to school board meeting minutes. It was unclear how long Kepchia was employed by the district.

Witnesses told police they saw the child who had the lemon juice and soap solution sprayed into their mouth being held down while the abuse occurred and Kepchia is accused of holding the child’s mouth during the ordeal, according to affidavit.

Kepchia and Stanko also are accused of using soundproofing mats — which also served as room dividers — to wrap the child who was sprayed with the soap solution and two other children. In some instances, the sounding mats were wrapped so tight around the children that they could not move their arms, police said. Stanko also is accused of picking up one boy and repeatedly throwing him into a crash mat.

Stanko and Kepchia had not been arraigned late Thursday, according to online court records. Their attorneys could not immediately be reached.