State finds Central Bucks used illegal restraints on special education students, report says

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has found that illegal restraints were used on two students in a special education classroom at Jamison Elementary, according to the Bucks County Courier Times.

Restraints were used against students for 20 to 40 minutes at a time, multiple times a day, according to the Courier Times, which obtained a copy of a report from the department that it said was dated Monday. Under Pennsylvania law, restraints are a last resort and allowed to be used only for safety, and their use must be reported to the state; Central Bucks had not reported using any restraints, according to the news organization.

A spokesperson for the education department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Michael Petitti, a spokesperson for Central Bucks, said the district “needs more clarity on PDE’s findings” before it could comment but would “cooperate fully … to work through any remedies that may be needed.”

Under the district’s reporting procedures, if a student is restrained, teachers are supposed to notify one of the district’s program specialists, Petitti said. But “at no time this school year did the teacher in the classroom in question report any use of restraints to the program specialist.”

The school district has been facing scrutiny for weeks over allegations that students in the Jamison special education classroom were mistreated. A whistleblower filed a complaint in November, saying that in addition to being subjected to improper restraints, children were physically punished, left undressed for extended periods, and prevented from drinking water and using speech devices, according to the Courier Times.

District officials said they investigated the allegations and found no abuse occurred. The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, meanwhile, said it reviewed information provided by Warwick Township police and did not bring charges.

But at a January school board meeting, community members and board member Jim Pepper — whose son was among the students in the classroom — accused the district of covering up abuse of nonverbal children. They said that Steven Yanni, Central Bucks’ superintendent, left out some of the whistleblower’s allegations in a report filed with ChildLine, the state hotline for child protective services. They also said witnesses confirmed the allegations, including that Pepper’s son was left naked on a bathroom floor, and walked barefoot across hot wood chips and asphalt as punishment.

Officials with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Special Education visited Jamison Elementary in the wake of the January board meeting. In its report this week, the state directed Central Bucks to report past uses of restraints, provide additional staff training, and review whether students are owed additional education time, according to the Courier Times.

Petitti noted that a compliance monitor from the education department visited another school in the district, Linden Elementary, on the same day officials were at Jamison Elementary interviewing staff in response to the allegations. At Linden, “the compliance monitor had the highest commendations for the district’s reporting procedures,” Petitti said.

The school board has authorized its own investigation, voting last week to hire Leigh Dalton, an attorney with the Stock & Leader firm, to conduct an independent review of the allegations. The board’s president, Susan Gibson, said Dalton expects the investigation to take two to three months.

Pepper, who is the lone Republican on the board, has called for Yanni’s resignation, along with other administrators who he says lied to him and downplayed mistreatment.