A recent state education opinion upholding the termination of a former Central Bucks school administrator contains “clear evidence” that supports pursuing criminal charges for violating mandatory reporter law, two child welfare advocates said.
The Pennsylvania secretary of education decision involving Alyssa Wright, a former public services and special education director with the school district, goes “beyond acknowledging” that Wright failed to report suspected abuse on the “specific day” that she was required to make a report, said Maura McInerney, legal director of the nonprofit Education Law Center in Philadelphia.
“The findings present clear evidence — including certain stipulations agreed to by the parties — that Ms. Wright qualified as a mandated reporter, had reasonable cause to suspect child abuse, and willfully failed to report this abuse as required by state law to fulfill her obligations as a mandated reporter,” McInerney said.
“The opinion supports a finding that the state mandatory reporting laws were violated and criminal penalties may be pursued.”
McInerney further described state Secretary of Education Cindy Rowe’s findings of willfulness against Wright as “particularly strong, implicating the applicability of penalties” under the Child Protective Services Law,” and “requiring further investigation as to whether she engaged in a continuing course of action under the law.”
In the March 30 opinion upholding Wright’s termination, Rowe noted that the case against Wright involves “a serious failure to file a ChildLine report because (her) position involved supervision over students with disabilities; a population vulnerable to abuse and neglect.”
Rowe wrote that the evidence shows Wright was first informed in October 2024 about a Jamison special education student who was naked during instructional time when the classroom teacher and education assistant were present.
Rowe further stated that Wright had “specific and full knowledge of the abuse concerns” no later than Nov. 14, 2024, and that she sent a staffer to observe the classroom and also received additional confirmation of the allegations on Nov. 15, 2024.
But no ChildLine report was made until Nov. 20, when former Superintendent Steven Yanni filed the first of two.
The education secretary dismissed Wright’s defense for her action that “many challenging behaviors” take place in a special education classroom and that she can’t be expected to file a report every time she learns about such incidents.
“The stipulated record demonstrates that Wright had full knowledge of abuse allegations no later than November 14, 2024, and further confirmation on November 15, 2024. Despite those notifications, (Wright) never reported those allegations to ChildLine although she had a legal duty to do so,” Rowe wrote in the opinion.
“Because every school employee has an independent obligation to report suspected abuse, Wright’s failure to report suspected child abuse constituted a violation of the [Child Protective Services Law] despite the later report by the District’s Superintendent.”
PA mandatory reporter duties under the law
No Central Bucks School District employees have been criminally charged in the mishandling of child abuse allegations involving special education students at Jamison Elementary School in 2024, though the failure to report suspected child abuse was specifically cited among the reasons for terminating Wright and two other administrators.
Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan declined to comment on Rowe’s opinion in Wright’s tenure appeal, citing an active investigation, according to a spokesman.
During his DA campaign last year, Khan said that he believed the DA’s office could do more investigating into the Jamison case after police declined to press charges against any district employees in connection with the abuse allegations.
Pennsylvania law says that anyone who works in a school, including independent contractors, has a legal responsibility to immediately file a report when there is “reasonable cause to suspect” that a child is being abused inside or outside the school.
Reports are to be filed with ChildLine, the state’s abuse reporting system. Department of Human Services employees screen those reports and determine whether to forward it to local law enforcement and child welfare for investigation.
But employees who ignore this duty often don’t face criminal charges. More typically they face discipline, including loss of state education certifications and jobs.
In the Jamison Elementary investigation, failure to report suspected child abuse was also specifically cited in termination charges against Yanni and former Jamison Elementary Principal David Heineman.
Internal and outside investigation, including Rowe’s opinion March 30, also showed that other employees, including a school nurse, were aware of the abuse allegations for at least five days, but also did not report them to ChildLine.
Four other administrators who had knowledge of the abuse were placed on a paid leave, but faced no other public discipline. Two of the employees later resigned, and two retired.
One of the former employees was hired at a neighboring school district.
Why are some educators not charged with failure to report abuse?
In Pennsylvania, a mandated reporter who willfully fails to report suspected child abuse can face misdemeanor criminal charges, or a third-degree felony, which is rare. Criminal charges can be filed up to five years after an offense occurred, according to the Child Protective Services Law.
But limited research exists showing how often mandatory reporters are arrested for ignoring the duty.
In the last five years, 51 cases have been filed against mandatory reporters for failing to report abuse, including one 2024 case in Bucks County, according to the Administrative Offices of Pennsylvania Courts, which oversees the state judiciary.
An agency spokeswoman said they did not have additional details, including the case outcomes and professions of the accused mandatory reporters, which includes medical professionals, police and social workers.
Prosecutors may exercise discretion in charging decisions, experts said, noting that the signs of child abuse aren’t always obvious. There’s also little widespread consensus on when behavior meets the definition of suspected abuse under the Child Protective Services Law.
The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office recently found there wasn’t enough evidence to support criminal charges for failure to report child abuse in a February 2025 incident where a 5-year-old with autism was restrained for an hour at school. The ChildLine report wasn’t filed until May 1.
But in southcentral Pennsylvania, a middle school vice principal who failed to report suspected sexual abuse of a student on a school bus was sentenced to four months of probation earlier in April.
The administrator pleaded no contest to charges of reckless endangerment and failure to report child abuse. The Department of Education suspended his education certifications in 2024 after he was arrested.
A state representative in southwestern Pennsylvania has asked the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General to investigate if a pattern of failure to report child abuse exists in a Fayette County school district where two teachers in March were arrested for inappropriate relationships with students.
The district attorney’s office has also said it’s investigating whether a culture of silence allowed misconduct to go unreported.
What discipline do educators face for not reporting child abuse?
More typically, educators who fail to report abuse face professional discipline, including official action against their professional licenses.
At least 14 Pennsylvania educators have lost their state certification for not reporting abuse since 2010, according to the state Department of Education educator discipline data.
At least twice in the last three years, the secretary of education has upheld terminations in school districts in Delaware and Allegheny counties for failure to report suspected child abuse.
But the former employees in those cases haven’t faced criminal charges, according to a review of the public court docket.
In one of those cases, Rowe rejected as “irrelevant” a school principal’s argument that it was “reasonable” for him to believe a teacher he directed to file the ChildLine report would immediately do it. The teacher waited five days before filing it, according to the state opinion.
The teacher and the superintendent in that case also have not been charged with failing to immediately report the suspected sexual relationship between a high school student and school security guard, though an internal investigation called the inaction a “frightening failure” to follow the law.
The recent Pennsylvania Department of Education decision is another reminder that the mandatory reporting law language needs to be reexamined, said Cathleen Palm, founder and director of the Center for Children’s Justice, an advocacy organization in Berks County.
“PDE’s affirmation that the [Jamison] case involved a ‘serious failure to file a ChildLine report’ despite [Wright] holding a position that ‘involved supervision over students with disabilities; a population vulnerable to abuse and neglect’ should be understood as a call-to-action on behalf of all children vulnerable due to age or disability,” Palm said.
The recognition of insufficient tools for prevention and accountability in the state’s child protection toolbox surfaced at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in February on the budget request for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Palm added.
State Sen. Scott Martin, R-Lancaster, the committee chair, highlighted “topics” in need of fuller discussion and action involving the law, including updating reporting standards, providing a mechanism to confirm that ChildLine reports were made and their timing, according to Palm.
