A former McDonald teacher's aide who pled guilty to endangering a special needs student will not be spending any time behind bars.

Twenty-eight-year-old Stephen Bornemiss was sentenced to three years of probation on one count of child endangering after pleading guilty back in February. He was also ordered to take an anger management class.

Additionally, Bornemiss must submit to random drug testing and cannot consume alcohol or enter anywhere alcohol is served such as bars, taverns, liquor stores or casinos.

Judge Cynthia Rice imposed this sentence stating that Bornemiss has no prior criminal record and has a low risk to reoffend.

The charge stems from an incident caught on video showing a student in a multiple disabilities classroom and a teacher's aide struggling in the hallway. Police say the student appeared not to want to go upstairs to his classroom.

The video shows Bornemiss attempting to lift the student from his armpits multiple times. Bornemiss was removed from the classroom and was subsequently fired following the incident.

The student's mother appeared at the sentencing and said her son never retaliated against Bornemiss during this incident. She detailed the negative impacts the incident has had on her son stating that it has completely changed his attitude towards school.

"[Our son] would beg us to let him stay home and he would cry. ... We could never figure out why the sudden change in his behavior [happened] because he always loved to go to school. ... However on the evening of September 25, 2023 we found our answer," the mother said.

The mother went on to say the student came home with marks under his arm and a larger mark on his inner bicep and refused to tell his parents what happened, instead opting to take photos of his injuries to show school administrators.

"[The student's] mode of defense is to sit down and block out external noise if he is afraid. In the case of Mr. Bornemiss's actions, that's exactly what our son was doing to protect himself. He just sat there and took Mr. Bornemiss's anger by being forced to his feet repeatedly, [being] pushed up against a wall and pulled upstairs," the mother said.

Bornemiss addressed the student and his family and apologized to them.

"I made some wrong decisions at that time and I regret what I did. I was trying to do my job as I was trained to do. I really enjoyed working with these students and helping them through their school day. I never meant to harm anyone," Bornemiss said. 

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