Central Bucks Fires Superintendent Over Handling Of Student Abuse Allegations

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Fifteen months after joining the district, Dr. Steven Yanni is officially out as superintendent over his handling of student abuse allegations at Jamison Elementary School.

On Thursday night, the school board chose not to accept Yanni’s resignation and instead voted 5 to 1, with one abstention, to terminate the superintendent’s employment with the district.

Board member Rick Herring broke with the majority, voting against termination, but said he would have accepted Yanni’s resignation.

“If the board’s intention is to not have Dr. Yanni as its superintendent, then approving his resignation assures that,” said Herring. “Terminating him opens up the possibility that the district may have to reinstate him if he decides to sue and wins. I would have voted to accept his resignation.”

Board President Susan Gibson, who joined the majority in voting in favor of termination, “respectfully disagreed” with Herring. “I believe that termination is the route that limits our exposure as a district wholeheartedly and I fully support this vote.”

Also voting in favor of termination were members Dana Folly, Daniel Kimicata, Karen Smith, and Heather Reynolds. Jim Pepper abstained. Board members Rob Dugger and Jenine Zdanowicz did not attend the meeting.

Yanni came to Central Bucks in 2024 from the Lower Merion School District, where he was superintendent. This week, he resurfaced as the CEO at the Northwood Academy, a K-8 charter school in Northeast Philadelphia.

In a separate motion at Thursday's meeting, the board voted 6 to 0 with one abstention to also terminate the employment of Dave Heineman, the former principal of the Jamison Elementary School, over his handling of the abuse allegations.

Before the board vote, Michael Henry, who had a child in the Jamison classroom where the abuse allegedly occurred, urged the board, when making its decision, to "think of these Autistic kids who were abused and now have to carry that emotional baggage every day.

"This is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference for CB," said Henry. "Tonight, you can give us all actions that will speak volumes. Let's be the good."

Yanni and Heineman have been on paid administrative leave from their jobs since last spring.

They were placed on leave in the wake of a 75-page report released by Disability Rights Pennsylvania into alleged abuse of special education students inside a Jamison Elementary School special education classroom last fall.

Following an investigation, the disability rights watchdog group found that students in the Jamison autistic support classroom were subjected to abuse, neglect, illegal restraints, and aversive treatment.

Disability Rights Pennsylvania also found that mandated reporters at Jamison and in the administration failed to file a ChildLine report and that the ChildLine reports filed by Superintendent Dr. Steven Yanni on behalf of the district were "delayed, incomplete, and misleading."

As a result of an independent investigation, the school board in June voted unanimously with one abstention to approve statements of charges against five employees, including Yanni and Heineman, and to begin termination proceedings against the administrators.

Board member James Pepper, whose son was also among those allegedly abused, said the board "did the right thing" in firing the two men, but it won't bring his son or his family closure.

"I take no pleasure in what happened this evening," he said. "It was almost 11 months to the day that every single administrator involved with this issue was given notice that my son was being abused in that classroom. And every single one of those administrators lied and covered up that abuse."

He continued, "This is not over for my family. This will be with us forever," he said. "It was the right thing to do to terminate both of these men. I look back at that list of people who knew that my boy and those three other defenseless children were being abused and did nothing, and I wonder where is the accountability for them?"