Teacher convicted of making threats is sentenced

An acclaimed teacher convicted of terrorizing her Bucks County elementary school was led off to prison yesterday, maintaining her innocence as she departed.

Susan Romanyszyn, 46, was sentenced to serve one to two years, minus one day, for making terroristic threats last fall against Longstreth Elementary School in Warminster. She then faces 20 years of probation, during which she can hold no job in which she supervises children.

"I am so sorry for all of the suffering that has occurred," Romanyszyn told Bucks County Court Judge Rea B. Boylan, but admitted to nothing.

On June 26, a jury held Romanyszyn responsible for an onslaught of written messages - childishly scrawled, threatening in tone, and scattered about the school - that left teachers, parents and children petrified for weeks.

"I have weapons and nife," said one message, decorated with a stick figure shooting five other stick figures, that was found in a classroom. "Die today kill 'em all."

Other threats were written on walls, and a fifth-grade girl found a fake bomb inside her desk. The jury convicted Romanyszyn of planting 11 of the 17 threats found between Oct. 11 and Oct. 19, 2007.

Because of her fragile health - Romanyszyn is weak from cancer treatments - she was taken to the county prison only for processing. She will be placed on house arrest, but could go to prison if she improves, Boylan said.

Romanyszyn, a divorced mother of an 11-year-old daughter, was a fourth-grade teacher at Longstreth. She was placed on leave shortly after the last threat was found, and fired after her Jan. 31 arrest.

Suffering from breast cancer, Romanyszyn walked haltingly as sheriff's deputies took her away.

In her wake lies a wounded school community of traumatized teachers, parents and children, witnesses told Boylan in court.

Eileen Behr, whose daughter found the fake bomb in her desk, said her child now "doesn't trust teachers. It took a while to explain when she asked, 'Why would somebody want to blow me up?' "

The youngest of Heather Sliwinski's six children still scans the school walls for threats, and grew afraid of sleeping alone. "He was scared Mrs. Romanyszyn was hiding in the closet," she said.

Until the arrest, "life at Longstreth was turned upside down," former principal Keely Mahan said, with canceled special events, backpack searches, and students confined to classrooms.

Teacher Mary Ellen Gilbert, who left Philadelphia schools 15 years ago after she and other bilingual teachers received hate letters, said Romanyszyn's "despicable acts" were an unwanted encore.

"I thought I had been healed from this event until [she] opened old wounds," Gilbert said.

Still, the charges bewildered many who had known Romanyszyn in her 15 years with the school district. In 2005, while teaching math at Klinger Middle School, she was one of two state finalists for a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics.

After transferring to Longstreth, Romanyszyn taught kindergarten for two years. Longtime kindergarten teacher Judie Greene said her colleague always seemed calm, patient and caring.

Last fall, Romanyszyn was reassigned to fourth grade. The only motive prosecutors offered was that she was miffed over not getting a fifth-grade assignment.

"Does it make sense? No. I don't think that makes sense to 99 percent of the community," said Gary Gambardella, who prosecuted the case. "She's nuts. She's a danger. She's not balanced."

Boylan said a court-ordered psychological report on Romanyszyn was "not particularly helpful" in explaining the crime. The judge ordered psychiatric counseling during her sentence.

Calling it "a very sad day," acting Centennial School District Superintendent Sandy Homel said Romanyszyn inflicted "emotional scars that children will be dealing with for a very long time.

"This is not a win for us," Homel said. "It's a lose-lose for everyone. A public steward has failed us."