Former school aide gets probation in child-endangering case

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A former Leonard Kirtz School aide was sentenced to one year of probation for excessively disciplining two students who are mentally challenged.

Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence Wednesday on Audrey Johntony, 34, of North Beverly Avenue, Austintown, who pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of child endangering.

In the plea agreement, the prosecution dropped two felony child-endangering counts and one felony count of assault and recommended Johntony be put on probation.

Johntony was supervising lunch at the school in Austintown on March 2, 2016, when two boys, age 7 and 9, refused to eat, investigators said.

She was accused of grabbing the 9-year-old’s hand and slapping him in the face three times using his own hand.

Johntony grabbed the 7-year-old’s arm and forced his head down onto a table, the prosecutor’s office said.

The Leonard Kirtz School is operated by the Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

Steve Maszczak, an assistant county prosecutor, said Johntony was remorseful, had no prior criminal record, and the boys were not injured.

“I loved every one of these children as if they were my own. ... I wish I could change what happened that day. I may have gotten too rough,” Johntony told the judge as she apologized for her actions.