A special education aide who first alleged in November that children had been abused in a Jamison Elementary classroom addressed the Central Bucks school board for the first time Thursday evening.
“What I saw broke my heart every single day,” the whistleblower, Alyssa K., told the board. "This is not about blame for the sake of blame, it’s about accountability."
Alyssa, who first spoke publicly earlier this week in an interview with this news organization, said she hopes the revelation of what happened at Jamison will lead to systemic change.
"How do we take what happened here and turn it into something good that saves other kids?" she said.
Alyssa's written complaint to the district last fall proved explosive, setting off a chain of events that would result in two criminal investigations, which were closed without charges; administrative leave for the principal and five district administrators, including the superintendent; a state investigation that would find that children had been illegally restrained; and an investigation by the nonprofit Disability Rights Pennsylvania that would report that the primarily nonverbal children had been abused, neglected and discriminated against.
More than 50 people attended the May 15 school board meeting, including parents of children who were allegedly abused in the autism support classroom.
"I wouldn't know anything about what happened in my kid's classroom without her," a parent who signed up as Michael Henry said.
Alyssa, who...
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