04/26/2025
This is the Disability Rights PA report just released regarding a case of child abuse at an elementary school in the Central Bucks School
District Administrators failed to adequately report, properly investigate, or appropriately respond to the substantiated allegations.
Compounding the abuse, school staff failed to comply with the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law which requires immediate reporting of suspected child abuse to ChildLine. Instead, school district administrators filed ChildLine reports days and then weeks after receipt of information of suspected child abuse, and the information reported in both instances was incomplete and misleading.
Though flawed, the school district’s own internal fact-finding investigation still revealed significant corroboration of the abuse. Despite that corroboration, the school district administrators erroneously informed parents of students and the local police conducting the ChildLine investigation that the school district's investigation found no evidence of abuse. A culture of distrust and fear of retaliation pervades at Jamison Elementary and among school district administrators regarding these issues, which undoubtedly contributed to the lack of appropriate reporting and response by the school district. Even though the allegations were substantiated, the school district did not remove the teacher and educational assistant from the classroom, and they have faced no disciplinary action – leaving the children in harm’s way.
“DRP was founded as a protection and advocacy organization decades ago with the core mission to protect people with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and violations of their rights,” stated Kelly Darr, Legal Director of DRP. “As our months’ long investigation revealed, such protection is essential as people with disabilities continue to face terrible treatment, stigma, and discrimination in places where they are supposed to receive understanding and support.”
DRP’s investigation also revealed that the school district lacks appropriate training, policies, and procedures related to ChildLine and incident reporting, internal investigations, communication among school staff and with parents, and non-discriminatory treatment of students with Autism.
DRP recommends a series of actions by the Central Bucks School District School Board to address these issues, including staff and administrator discipline, training, policy development, and additional safeguards for the safety and rights of students with disabilities. “DRP will continue to monitor this situation to ensure compliance by the school district on behalf of the students with disabilities in the district,” Darr stated.
This report is being released publicly due to the attention that these allegations have garnered in the media and the school district’s shortfalls in addressing the situation. The report includes sensitive details about very young children with disabilities and disability-related behavior. Although DRP does not identify any of the students in the classroom by name, it is a very small classroom, and anonymity may be difficult to maintain. The media, the school district, and the public owe these students the dignity of not using the details of what happened in the classroom in a way that would further harm, exploit, or stigmatize these young children and their families, now or in the future.
DRP is the statewide, non-profit organization designated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the protection and advocacy system pursuant to federal laws. DRP is charged under these laws with protecting individuals with disabilities against abuse and neglect, with advocating for such individuals to assure protection of their rights, and to pursue legal remedies in furtherance of these rights
https://www.disabilityrightspa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250423-Final-DRP-Investigative-Report-Jamison-Ele-CBSD.pdf?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=893c0240-35a4-43a0-9d0b-d133acf41e0a&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR6xGpd-_f5cg1FuQ5qkbMBlRD8fjD5hlkiNZmNlVHTFbEDt8LY4WSCJOYt3-g_aem_Mbgw36gJsaqgXkxPINA4EQ
