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EDUCATION
Bucks County Courier Times
The principal at Jamison Elementary, where a teacher and an aide were accused of mistreating special education students last fall, has been placed on paid leave pending the results of the school board's audit of the handling of the allegations, according to people familiar with the matter.
Charles Malone, who is the assistant superintendent for secondary education, told Jamison staff Tuesday afternoon that the principal, Dave Heineman, is on paid leave beginning this week. The paid leave is without a firm end date, and the assistant principal, Heather Jacobson, is stepping in for Heineman.
Although Malone does not typically oversee the district's elementary schools — the assistant superintendent for elementary schools is Nadine Garvin — Malone will be assisting Jacobson at the board's request, he said at the meeting.
Garvin announced her early retirement last month following an intermittent, unspecified leave after the allegations at Jamison became public. It is unknown whether her impending retirement has anything to do with the Jamison case.
The news of Heineman's leave comes five days after a former board member and the wife of a current board member criticized half the school board for what they described as a failure to act in the wake of the district's handling of the abuse allegations.
Malone didn't explain the timing of the paid leave for Heineman, which comes several weeks after the board originally approved the audit of the district's handling of its investigation at Jamison after a staffer alerted administrators of concerns in the classroom.
An email to parents Tuesday afternoon didn't mention whether the leave is tied to the investigation.
"Please know that we remain committed to providing a stable and productive environment for both staff and students,” the email read.
Heineman has been with the district for 25 years. He started as a sixth grade teacher at Kutz Elementary in 1999, according to his LinkedIn profile. He made $168,707 annually as of October 2023, according to state education department data.
School board members have been divided on whether to take personnel action regarding district administrators involved in the investigation of the Jamison allegations, said Jim Pepper, a school board official whose son was among the children allegedly mistreated.
Pepper has called for the resignations of Garvin, Superintendent Steven Yanni and Rob Freiling, the human resources director, over their handling of the Jamison allegations.
The state found that children in the classroom were illegally restrained.
School board members had previously announced the appointment of Cathy Rossi, an external human resources consultant, to "assist with any staffing matters" at Jamison Elementary.
Jess Rohan can be reached at [email protected].
This story was updated to add new information.