Central Bucks Cuts Ties With 2 Employees Over Jamison Abuse Allegations

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The Central Bucks School District has cut ties with two employees over an incident involving the suspected abuse of students inside a special education classroom at Jamison Elementary School last year and its handling by district administrators.

The board voted 8-0 with one abstention at its August meeting to approve a separation agreement with employee No. 16177 and to terminate director of pupil services Alyssa Wright effective Aug. 21.

Board member Jim Pepper, whose autistic son is among the students allegedly abused at Jamison, abstained from the votes, but he took the opportunity to respond to the public termination hearings held the previous two days for Superintendent Steven Yanni and Jamison principal Bill Heineman.

Pepper thanked the board members who attended and sat through what he called “two horrendous days” of testimony and cross-examination.

He also commended interim general solicitor Peter Amuso and interim Human Resources Director Cathy Rossi “for the excellent work the two of you did” in conducting the hearings, including presenting evidence of abuse and alleging that the superintendent and principal failed to take timely and appropriate action to stop it.

“Over the last eight or nine months, it feels as though I have been sitting in a dentist’s chair being
drilled on. I have supported certain people who used to work for this district. I did that in error,” he said. “And part of that was a real need to believe my son and the other children in that room were not so completely and utterly failed. But they were. They were completely and utterly failed, not just by employees of this district but by the law enforcement and the district attorney’s office.

“We heard over the last two days there were no criminal charges brought," said Pepper. "There were no charges because no one cared enough to retain the videotape of my son and the other children being abused … The enormity of the failure here is really hard to fathom,” he said.

Pepper continued his remarks by speaking to an email “that somehow, someway got lost by the people who were charged with investigating what happened in my son’s classroom. Through the good efforts of Mr. Amuso and Mrs. Rossi this email was found and this email laid everything bare,” he said.

“When Alyssa Klein first went to the Human Resources department (to report the incidents of suspected abuse), she was interviewed by a former employee. And that was Nov. 15, 2024. How do I know that? There’s an email that memorializes notes from that meeting. That email containing a detailed attachment of Klein's observations was sent to Supervisor of Special Education Katie Veisz, Assistant Superintendent Nadine Garvin, Director of Human Resources Robert Frieling, Jamison Principal Dave Heineman, Superintendent Steven Yanni and Alyssa Wright.

Pepper became emotional as he read excerpts from the attachment documenting how his son was treated inside the classroom.

“We’re supposed to believe that people did not read that attachment? I ask you whether or not the people named on that list were following along when it was - number one - a fact-finding about abuse in the most vulnerable population we have in this district and - number two - a school board member’s son who was in that classroom. Are we are supposed to believe that they did not read that attachment? I do not believe that.

“I was in regular contact with Dr. Yanni. Guess how much he told me? Nothing. He told me and the police it was a personality conflict.

“There’s no question people lied to me and it’s unbelievable to me that this happened," said Pepper. "All of this has been incredibly painful.”

Yanni testified during the hearings that he never lied or misled anyone about the abuse investigation and that he took the appropriate actions. He also testified that the fact-finding information he initially received from staff regarding allegations of abuse was unfounded and showed that no abuse had occurred.