Central Bucks school board terminates superintendent and principal over handling of abuse in special education classroom

The Central Bucks School District board formally terminated Superintendent Steven Yanni and Jamison Elementary School principal David Heineman Thursday night over their handling of reports of abuse of children in a special education classroom.

The board terminated Yanni in a 5-1 vote, after passing on the opportunity to approve his resignation. All six voting members approved the motion to terminate Heineman.

Board member Jim Pepper, whose son was one of the students abused in the Jamison classroom, abstained from both votes. Two other board members were not present.

Yanni left the school district as of last week and is now the CEO of Northwood Academy, a K-8 charter that educates about 450 students in the Frankford section of Philadelphia.

Yanni had been on administrative leave since April, after a report by a disability rights nonprofit found the district had failed to appropriately respond to the abuse allegations. The report found that a teacher and educational assistant abused students in an autism support classroom at Jamison by illegally restraining them, causing a “reasonable likelihood of bodily injury” and also likely interfering with their breathing.

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Thursday’s votes followed the recommendation of Jonathan Huerta, an attorney who was appointed special counsel and presided over a two-day termination hearing in August, according to a copy of his reports obtained by The Inquirer.

“The obligation of the mandated reporter to report immediately should have been known to Dr. Yanni at this time,“ Huerta’s report stated. ”If he did not know of it, he neglected his duty to the School District to know it."

The report also chastised Yanni for telling police, board members, and parents of a child in the classroom that the district found no abuse. That determination should have been left to police and state oversight agencies, not the district.

Only board member Rick Harring voted against Yanni’s termination, saying he would have preferred the board vote on a motion to accept his resignation.

“Terminating him opens the possibility that the district may have to reinstate him if he decides to sue and wins,” Harring said.

School board president Susan Gibson disagreed.

“I believe termination is the route that limits our exposure as a district wholeheartedly, and fully support this vote,” Gibson said.

The vote took place 11 months after a personal-care assistant in a Jamison special education classroom first made the allegations of abuse by a teacher and educational assistant.

Huerta’s report said “it would be fair” to call these allegations of mistreatment, if not “outright abuse as ordinary people would understand the meaning of the term.”

Michael Henry, a parent of a child who was in the Jamison class where the abuse occurred, said during the meeting’s public comment period that Yanni and Heineman had lied to him and told him that no abuse had occurred.

Henry said he moved to the district because he believed the schools were going to support his kid best, adding, “oops.”

“You could show us all that you do care about these students,” Henry said.

An emotional Pepper spoke after the votes, saying that the administrators involved were given notice that his son and three other children were being abused in a classroom, and every single one “covered up that abuse.” He vowed to continue to pursue justice for his son through the courts.

“This is not over for my family,” Pepper said. “This will be with us forever.”

District officials initially refused to remove the accused educators from the classroom, and said an internal investigation found no evidence of abuse.

The April report, by Disability Rights Pennsylvania, found the allegations to be credible and accused district administrators of failing to adequately investigate the matter and make a full and timely report to the state. The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office has said officials investigated the case and declined to file criminal charges.

The school board moved to begin termination proceedings for Yanni and Heineman in June, and they defended themselves at their August termination hearings. Yanni said he took action and trusted the people around him, and Heineman disputed claims that he advised teachers, who are mandatory reporters of child abuse, to consult him before reporting abuse.

Huerta wrote that he didn’t find Heineman’s testimony credible.

“He failed to abide by the law, and worse, he directed many other school employees, also mandated reporters, to do the same,” Huerta wrote.

In a statement prior to Thursday’s meeting, Yanni said the vote to accept his resignation is “symbolic” and that “a vote on any other action would be procedurally invalid and legally meaningless.”

“For 22 years I have dedicated my life to my career in education, always advocating for students to ensure they receive the best education possible,” Yanni said. “I am proud of the work I have done and what I have accomplished as both a teacher and administrator.”

A representative for Heineman did not respond to a request for comment.

In August, the board also terminated Alyssa Wright, who served as Central Bucks’ director of pupil services and oversaw special education services.

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Wright filed a federal lawsuit against the district and eight board members in September in which she claimed she was a whistleblower who was scapegoated after raising concerns over the pace and competence of the investigation into the suspected abuse.

A teacher, Gabrielle McDaniel, and educational assistant, Rachel Aussprung, who are accused of carrying out the abuse, were terminated in June. McDaniel has denied wrongdoing.