Defense attorneys say aides in Greensburg Salem elementary school followed direction of supervisors
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Defense attorneys sought to push blame Wednesday in criminal cases alleging mistreatment of three Greensburg Salem elementary students onto two women who led the classroom, not two aides who were essentially their subordinates.
Attorneys for Lorraine F. Robertson, 75, of Greensburg, and Amanda Lehman, 40, of South Greensburg, argued during preliminary hearings Wednesday that it’s impossible to know what either woman was thinking when police said they restrained children in a Robert F. Nicely Elementary School special-needs classroom.
Robertson may have been intending to help a child when police said she held a soundproofing mat around him, attorney Michael Ferguson argued.
“I don’t believe that there’s a shred of evidence that indicated what her mindset was when she had her hand on the mat,” he said.
Lehman’s attorney, Michael DeMatt, argued that both women were listening to their superiors in the classroom.
“All of the actions that were occurring with the children were occurring at the direction of those teachers,” he said. “The teachers were in charge of that classroom.”
Charges of child endangerment and failure to report against Robertson and Lehman were held Wednesday for further prosecution in Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court. A third co-defendant, Derek J. Hines, 38, of Hempfield, waived his right to a preliminary hearing on the same charges.
Three other people are accused of varying levels of involvement in what police described as assault and mistreatment of the three children, ages 8, 7 and 6. District officials have said the two employees and four contracted employees facing charges were removed from the classroom when they were notified of the situation in fall 2023.
Police said Brooke A. Stanko, 35, of Derry Township was working as a special education teacher and Teri Kepchia, 59, of Hempfield was an aide in the same classroom.
The two women are accused of spraying lemon juice and soap into the mouth of one child and restraining that child and two others with soundproofing mats on multiple occasions in September and October 2023, according to charging documents filed by police. They are awaiting trial on conspiracy, child endangerment, false imprisonment, simple assault and failure to report charges.
Three hours of testimony Wednesday indicated that Robertson and Lehman were aides Stanko’s classroom. Both women were employed by an outside agency.
Two mothers testified that their sons started acting differently in September 2023. Both said their boys, who were in first and second grades, started putting up a fight when it was time to go to school.
The women testified that they were never notified by the school district that their children were the subject of restraint in the classroom. TribLive is not identifying the women to protect the identity of the children. One of the mothers who testified is suing the district.
The situation eventually was reported to ChildLine, prompting the police investigation.
Todd McMillen, district director of student services, testified that district policy allows an employee to physically restrain a student, but only if the child is a danger to themselves or others. McMillen said that action can only take place after other behavioral interventions are exhausted.
Any employee involved in physically restraining a student must report it to the district, state and child’s parents. No reports were sent to him from Nicely Elementary in fall 2023.
Greensburg Police Detective Sgt. Justin Scalzo testified witnesses reported seeing Lehman and Robertson involved with the children being wrapped up in the mats, which are also used as room dividers — 6 feet long by 4 feet high — and the spray bottle being used on multiple occasions while a child was held down in a chair. Neither woman reported the situation to ChildLine or authorities, Scalzo said.
The sixth co-defendant, Lauren Byrne-Houser, 39, of Greensburg, testified during the preliminary hearing that she, Lehman and other adults stood around the mats with a child wrapped inside, but it was never their idea.
“You were to do what the teachers wanted you to do?” DeMatt asked on cross-examination.
“Yes,” she replied.
Byrne-Houser, who said she was an aide in the classroom, waived her right to a preliminary hearing last week on charges of child endangerment and failure to report.
Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli argued that the classroom aides were not working in a dictatorship and they could’ve refused to participate or report it.
“This was a cruel attempt of some type of behavioral modification that they participated in,” he said.
After the hearing, Ferguson said he doesn’t believe there’s any evidence in the case that Robertson intended to cause harm to a child.
“I just feel that this prosecution is an example of overreaching and trying to criminalize something that does not merit criminalization,” he said.