Teacher faces sex charges

SOUTH COVENTRY » Owen J. Roberts School District officials announced Friday that charges have been filed against a 38-year-old high school science teacher for institutional sexual assault involving a student.

Melissa Bonkoski, whose address is listed as Jay Street in Stowe, is charged with eight felonies: three counts of institutional sexual assault, three counts of unlawful contact with a minor; one count of corruption of minors and one count of criminal use of a communication facility, according to court records.

Court records indicate the offenses date back to Dec. 1, 2015. Bonkoski posted $80,000 in unsecured bail herself, according to court records.

She was arraigned Friday morning and a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 17 before District Judge Leonard Brown.

Further court information was unavailable Friday evening.

The school district learned of the criminal charges Friday, according to the announcement emailed to the community from Acting Superintendent Anthony Costello.

Chester County authorities were notified immediately after “the school district learned of rumors of this alleged misconduct,” Costello wrote in the email.

“The school district has fully cooperated with the investigations conducted by those agencies regarding the allegations, and will continue to do so throughout the criminal prosecution of this matter,” Costello wrote.

Bonkoski was asked to resign her position at Owen J. Roberts High School.

“Upon learning of the filing of these charges, the school district asked for, and received, Bonkoski’s immediate resignation from her employment as a teacher,” Costello wrote.

He urged “any community members who are aware of

of information related to these criminal charges to report it to the school district or the Chester

County Detective’s Office.”

Costello concluded by noting that the school district “will not be providing any further public comment at this time due to the prosecution of the active criminal case.”

According to Bonkoski’s biographical

information, which was still posted on the school district website Friday evening, she is in her second year teaching Earth science at the high school, and most recently “spent several years teaching science in Miami, Florida and before

that in West Philadelphia.”

“Ms. Bonkoski attended La Salle University and graduated with a bachelor’s in computer science and a minor in music. She earned her master’s degree in education also at La Salle University and is currently

working on her second master’s degree in science education from Montana State University. While Ms. Bonkoski was teaching in Miami, she also taught marine science at the Miami Seaquarium,” according to the district website.