Warrant issued for former Fresno Unified principal accused of ‘altercation’ with student
UPDATE: The Bee’s Ed Lab obtained the security camera footage Thursday. Read the latest at this link.
Original story below
A former principal of Wolters Elementary School has been charged with child abuse and endangerment and a warrant has been issued for his arrest, the Fresno Police Department confirmed Wednesday.
Security camera footage appears to show the now ex-principal, Brian Vollhardt, striking a student who has special needs, according to a source with the Fresno Unified School District who watched the video.
Vollhardt did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. An FUSD spokesperson declined to comment but later issued a media statement that the district would host a news conference Thursday morning with the Fresno Police Department to discuss the “altercation” between the former principal and student.
Vollhardt came under investigation after a district employee contacted the police on June 9, department spokesperson Lt. Bill Dooley told The Bee’s Education Lab in an email Wednesday afternoon. A report and video evidence were entered into the department’s system on June 13, Dooley added.
However, Dooley said the arrest warrant was signed Wednesday, a day after The Bee requested information about the case from police.
Taylor Long, a spokesperson for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, said prosecutors reviewed the case “first thing” Wednesday morning and filed a criminal charge against Vollhardt. Long said police sent the case to prosecutors late Tuesday.
Dooley also said police hadn’t completed their investigation as of Wednesday.
“There are still some interviews to be finalized,” he said.
Fresno County Superior Court records indicate Vollhardt’s is charged with misdemeanor child abuse in connection with the June 7 incident.
Fresno County’s Child Welfare Services could not respond to The Bee’s questions regarding whether they were also contacted for the case “due to confidentiality,” Fresno County spokesperson Sonja Dosti said in an email to the Ed Lab Wednesday.
The Bee filed a Public Records Act request on July 13, seeking security camera footage and other records from the Fresno Unified School District. FUSD attorneys said the district would provide records no later than 9 a.m. on Sept. 8.
Henry confirmed in an Aug. 17 email to the Ed Lab that Vollhardt resigned from his position with FUSD on Aug. 4.
Wolters Elementary is located in Fresno Unified’s Hoover High region in northeast Fresno.
Before his resignation, Vollhardt had worked his way up the ladder from teacher to principal in FUSD over roughly 14 years.
He was first hired by Fresno Unified in 2008 as a teacher with the Special Education Department at Roosevelt High School, according to Henry.
In 2013, he took a job as a Guidance and Learning Advisor at Tenaya Middle School.
In 2020, he was hired as a vice principal at Bullard High School.
He started as principal of Wolters Elementary in August 2020.
The Wolters principal position was posted on EDJOIN from Aug. 12 through Aug. 25, with the position’s salary range listed as between $101,778 and $123,710.
Vollhardt was originally issued a Level II Education Specialist Instruction Credential in 2002, which allows him to “conduct assessments, provide instruction, and special education related services to individuals with a primary disability of autism,” according to the state’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
As of Wednesday afternoon, his profile on the commission’s site didn’t have a flag under the “Adverse and Commission Actions Indicator” section.
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