School clinic aid sentenced to two years for medication stealing 

District parents remain concerned about student, medication safety 

by Melissa Martin

The former clinic aid who stole prescription medication from students at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Elementary School was sentenced to two years in prison on Jan. 22, for endangering the health and safety of children under her care.

During her trial, Danielle Kovacs, 42, admitted to stealing student medications, including Adderall, Focalin, Ritalin and methylphenidate from the school health care clinic between January 2021 and February 2024. Those drugs are used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and were prescribed to students to take during the school day.

The missing medication was reported to Brecksville police in February 2024 by Brian Wycuff, assistant superintendent of the school district. According to Brecksville police reports, two school nurses discovered the medication missing after checking prescription logs.

Kovacs, who was hired by the district in October 2020, resigned on July 23, 2024more than two weeks after being indicted. She initially pleaded not guilty to the charges. During her trial, Kovacs changed her plea to guilty and was sentenced on one count of felony tampering with records and five felony counts of theft of drugs. 

Kovacs told the court she replaced the students’ medication in two cases with the prescription medication Lexapro at a dosage of 10 mg. Lexapro is an antidepressant typically used to treat depression and anxiety and is not generally recommended for young children.

When Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Ashley Kilbane asked Kovacs what she did with the ADHD pills she stole from students, she admitted to taking the pills herself. Her attorney, Donald J. Malarcik, argued the mother of three was struggling with her own mental health at the time the thefts occurred. 

Kovacs was also found guilty of tampering with clinic records, “facilitating a fraud [to] … falsify, destroy, remove, conceal, alter, deface or mutilate” the records.

Parents of several affected children expressed both anger and sadness during Kovacs’ sentencing hearing.

“My son can’t speak for himself, so to poison him by giving him medication that could have possibly interacted with other meds and caused serious harm is incredibly evil,” one parent told the court. “That’s the word I can best use to describe the defendant: evil. Stealing from a non-verbal autistic child, evil. Replacing medicine with no regard to the harmful possibilities, evil.”

Another parent who testified accused Kovacs of taking the medication “for the selfish purpose of losing weight,” as stimulant medications used to treat ADHD are known to suppress appetite and can lead to weight loss. 

According to parent statements, Kovacs not only stole medications, but also lied to parents, claiming that their child’s prescribed drugs were unusable after falling on the floor or, in other cases, that the medications were ineffective and advised parents to request higher doses from their child’s physician.

In addition to a prison sentence, Kilbane ordered Kovacs to pay $6,156 in restitution to the parents of four of her victims for the missing medication.

Following the sentencing, parents in the district have expressed ongoing concerns to district administrators and members of the school board about the safety of both students and medications housed at the district’s schools.

Hilary Jackson, a Brecksville resident and parent to a first grader, sent a letter to the school board in recent weeks saying she and other parents are “frustrated with the lack of communication” around the case. She requested the school board host a town-hall style meeting where parents and other community members could express their concerns and have lingering questions answered.

“My intention in this request is not to point blame or persecute, but to give the people of the BBHCSD an opportunity to have their voices heard and the opportunity for the board to regain trust from its constituents,” Jackson’s letter to the board states.

Jackson also requested several public records from the board, including Kovacs’ personnel file, email records regarding Kovacs and all board updates over the past two years.The school board responded to Jackson’s request, issuing the following statement: “BBHCSD has taken this matter very seriously by strengthening oversight protocols for prescription-controlled substances. Our existing safeguards enabled us to identify the issue, leading to the immediate removal of the individual from the district and their prosecution. The situation was communicated to our school community when first discovered and reported to authorities. We appreciate the continued support of the Brecksville and Broadview Heights police departments in resolving this matter.”