Bucks officials defend decision not to bring charges in the Jamison Elementary abuse case

Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn and Warwick Township Police Chief Mark Goldberg are defending the decision not to bring criminal charges in a case alleging abuse of special education students at Jamison Elementary School.

In a detailed statement, Goldberg said police conducted a thorough investigation into allegations that surfaced in November 2024 that students in a special needs classroom in the Central Bucks School District were being abused. The chief said he personally oversaw the investigation.

Goldberg noted that the district attorney’s Special Victims Unit had assisted with the probe, in which the district attorney’s office “concluded that the behavior alleged did not constitute criminal activity.”

“Having monitored this investigation, I fully support that decision,” Goldberg said in the statement on Friday. “Everything that could be done, was done.”

Schorn had issued a statement on Thursday reporting her office’s conclusions. That same day, the Central Bucks school board placed Superintendent Steven Yanni on leave, citing a report finding the district failed to adequately investigate the abuse.

That report, released Wednesday by Disability Rights Pennsylvania, found that students in an autistic support classroom at Jamison Elementary suffered abuse at the hands of a teacher and an educational assistant.

The alleged abuse, first reported to the district by a personal-care assistant in November, included use of illegal physical restraints and creating a “likelihood of sexual abuse and exploitation” of one student, according to the report.

It recommended the district consider disciplinary action against staff and administrators, along with training.

» READ MORE: Special education students in Central Bucks were abused, a disability rights group finds

But Schorn said: “As the district attorney, it is not my place to weigh in on non-criminal matters. To do anything beyond that would be beyond the scope of my statutory authority.”

The district has said that it found no evidence of abuse but that the report found that Yanni and other administrators failed to accurately investigate and disclose to authorities the assistant’s allegations.

The report said that the district’s investigation was faulty and that a “culture of fear” dissuaded staff from speaking up.

In his two-page statement, Goldberg said a second investigation was conducted by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and attorneys there decided not to prosecute.

“I can assure our residents and our community that the investigation conducted by my officers was thorough, complete, and professional. I support them without reservation,” Goldberg said.

The school board hired a law firm to investigate the allegations in February. The findings from that probe have not been announced.