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Video: California School Principal Violently Shoves 11-Year-Old Autistic Student, Charged With Child Abuse

<p>A <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;&quest;s&equals;california&amp&semi;post&lowbar;type&equals;post" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>California<&sol;strong><&sol;a> elementary school principal has been charged with child abuse and endangerment and placed on administrative leave after video showed him shoving an 11-year-old special needs student to the ground&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Brian Vollhardt&comma; the principal at Wolters Elementary School in Fresno&comma; had resigned following a criminal investigation over the summer after violently pushing the boy on June 7&comma; according to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;edsource&period;org&sol;updates&sol;fresno-ex-principal-accused-of-assaulting-student-placed-on-leave-from-new-job" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>EdSource&comma;<&sol;strong><&sol;a> but has since taken a new position in a different school district&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Shocking newly-released surveillance video footage shows as Vollhardt shoved the child&comma; who reportedly has autism&comma; as the boy spoke with him and two other staff members in the school cafeteria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One of the staff members could be seen running to the child&&num;8217&semi;s aid as he fell&comma; while Vollhardt continues to point and yell at him&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1567947217012682752" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Principal Initially Said Autistic Child Assaulted Him Before Video Evidence Proved Otherwise<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The boy&&num;8217&semi;s legal guardian&comma; Ann Frank&comma; told <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;abc30&period;com&sol;former-fresno-unified-principal-child-abuse-brian-vollhardt-abusing-student&sol;12211270&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>ABC 30<&sol;strong><&sol;a> that the principal called her that same day and claimed the child assaulted him&period; Frank added that the boy&comma; who she described as her son&comma; insisted it was Vollhardt who pushed him and not the other way around&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It took over three months for Frank to receive footage of the incident to confirm the student&&num;8217&semi;s account&comma; Frank went on to say&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;You cannot put force to these kids like that&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Frank said&period; &&num;8220&semi;My son is autistic&period; Any parents seeing this video&comma; they know what I&&num;8217&semi;m feeling right now&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>My son was pushed with force by this principal who was supposed to protect him&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; Vollhardt claims the boy was &&num;8220&semi;getting in his face&&num;8221&semi; and made a fist before pressing it against him&comma; prompting him to push the child to the floor&comma; according to an arrest warrant affidavit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fresnobee&period;com&sol;news&sol;local&sol;education-lab&sol;article265515571&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>Fresno Bee<&sol;strong><&sol;a> reports that Vollhardt had a similar incident with the same student 11 days earlier on May 27th&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1328524531045117952" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Vollhardt allegedly forced the child to the ground and held his knee to the student’s back while holding down the student’s shoulder for &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;approximately 2-4 minutes&comma;” according to a complaint&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Principal Resigned Following Criminal Investigation&comma; Family Has Since Hired Attorney<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Bob Nelson&comma; the Fresno Unified School District superintendent eventually notified the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing&comma; called the incident &&num;8220&semi;repugnant&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Vollhardt was hired as a vice principal at a school in another district following the incident in Fresno&comma; the outlet reports&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Golden Plains Unified School District has since confirmed Vollhardt has been put on administrative leave after learning of the incident and seeing the video&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Frank said Vollhardt &&num;8220&semi;doesn&&num;8217&semi;t need to handle anybody else&&num;8217&semi;s kids&&num;8221&semi; and commended the Golden Plains Unified School District for promptly removing him upon learning of his actions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1567980273975046144" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;He doesn&&num;8217&semi;t deserve to work in anybody else&&num;8217&semi;s school if he&&num;8217&semi;s working in one&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Frank told ABC&period; &&num;8220&semi;He doesn&&num;8217&semi;t need to handle anybody else&&num;8217&semi;s kids&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8216&semi;Who&&num;8217&semi;s to say how many other kids he&&num;8217&semi;s done this to&quest;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Family Criticizes Police&comma; School District For Taking Three Months To Respond To Incident<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; Frank criticized the police department and Fresno Unified School District for taking so long to respond to the incident&comma; and has since hired an attorney&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a statement&comma; Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama said that he was disappointed that he did not see the video until earlier this week&comma; and added the department will be implementing changes to insure violent misdemeanor charges are reviewed by a supervisor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As of Friday&comma; there was no record of any disciplinary action regarding Vollhardt’s teaching credentials&comma; the Fresno Bee reports&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The treatment of autistic students has recently made headlines for all the wrong reasons&comma; with three former staff members at another California school being charged with manslaughter earlier this summer for the 2018 death of an autistic teen boy&comma; who died after being restrained face-first on the floor for an hour&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;three-school-staffers-indicted-for-2018-death-of-autistic-boy-who-died-after-being-restrained-for-an-hour&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>The Shade Room<&sol;strong><&sol;a> previously reported&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"98041" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;video-california-school-principal-shoves-11-year-old-autistic-student-with-child&sol;" data-secure&equals;"b649ce0b13"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; 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Matthew McNulty

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