A 31-year-old McKeesport woman is facing misdemeanor assault and endangering the welfare of children charges in connection with an incident that authorities say took place Oct. 24 at Sto-Rox Upper Elementary School.
London Simmons is scheduled to appear in court at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17, for a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Bruce J. Boni.
A summons was issued, and a criminal complaint was filed Wednesday in the case, which was investigated by Allegheny County Police.
According to police, the department’s General Investigations Unit received a ChildLine report on Monday alleging an adult paraprofessional, working as a contractor from an outside agency at Sto-Rox Upper Elementary School, struck a 10-year-old female student with special needs.
That adult paraprofessional later was identified as Simmons, whom court records show to be 5-feet-2 and 190 pounds.
The criminal complaint notes that the girl has cerebral palsy and “intellectual deficits.”
According to the complaint, police detectives viewed multiple videos from the school that showed the student standing in the hallway near a door to a room. Simmons is then seen on video opening the door into the student with such force that she was knocked to the ground and her glasses were broken on impact.
According to the criminal complaint, a witness told police that Simmons did not help the student, and she was seen walking away from the area. The student was evaluated for a minor eye injury resulting from the fall.
After consultation with the district attorney’s office, Simmons was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault, both misdemeanors.
School district officials would not comment on the matter but posted a statement on the district website.
“The district will not stand for any mistreatment of our students,” the statement reads. “When this incident took place, the building principal immediately investigated and made a ChildLine report. The paraprofessional, who works for the contractor Soliant, was then removed from the building.
“We have fully cooperated with the investigations led by Allegheny County Police and the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families and will continue to do so. We will have no further comment at this time.”
According to its website, Soliant is a health care and education staffing company that specializes in the areas of occupational therapy, special education, speech-language pathology and more.
Documents show that the school district hired a London Simmons as head track coach at Sto-Rox High School in March 2023 for a stipend of $2,500. At the time, Simmons worked with Life Skills students in the Upper Elementary School, according to the district’s website. She resigned as track coach in May 2024.
A district spokesperson did not respond to questions regarding Simmons’ employment in a coaching capacity.
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