Boyertown School District Principal Resigns After Allegations

The Boyertown School District principal who was being investigated by school officials following an incident with a 7-year-old student has tendered his resignation.

Christopher Iacobelli, the principal at Washington Elementary School, screamed at a young girl who had been afraid to come to school due to bullying, according to the girl's mother. His resignation was announced at the School Board meeting on Oct. 23.

The incident, which occurred in early October, led the district to reassign Iacobelli to an administrative post outside of the school. The district's human resources department was still looking into the incident when Iacobelli officially resigned. It's not yet clear if they had arrived at any conclusions, and no information regarding that investigation has been made public.

According to a report from the Reading Eagle, the district alleges that Iacobelli's resignation was "unrelated" to the allegations, but an alternative reason for the resignation was not provided.

Boyertown Superintendent Dana Bedden met with parents of Washington Elementary School just days after the incident, praising teachers and expressing concern that "random acts of verbage" and "unfounded speculation" make it difficult for the district to attract good teachers.

"Every teacher in this building, until something else shows otherwise, has a hundred percent of my support," Bedden told the gathered parents, before acknowledging, "I will tell you that I am absolutely concerned...of what I've been told has happened."

In a public Facebook post that was shared thousands of times, the mother of the girl said she witnessed the incident involving Iacobelli firsthand after dropping her daughter off.

"This was not just any kind of screaming- this was anger, anger I never knew ANYONE could feel towards a 7 year old," she wrote. "This isn't easy for me to put into words, I am so angry, disgusted, sick, and just plain in shock."

In the social media post, the mother quoted a letter she wrote to the Boyertown School Board which described troubles her daughter had been having recently, including severe anxiety over coming to school due to the bullying. She said that when she dropped her daughter off, Iacobelli assured her that her daughter would be taken care of.

She described the incident which she said she witnessed as she left the school (the daughter's name has not been included in order to protect her identity):

I stopped and heard a mans voice screaming and saw through the glass corridor the principal with *******'s back to the wall screaming in her face. I immediately went back and banged on the door to let me in, they all saw me there and the principal continued screaming in her face not letting me in. I finally buzzed the office, that were witnessing the entire thing. I told them to let me in and they asked what I needed, I told them again to let me in, they buzzed me in and I called to ******* to come to me. The principal began shouting no several times and would not allow ******* to walk past him. I told him I was taking my daughter with me and told her to come to me. She was able to come to me and we exited the school. Upon arriving home, I contacted the state police and while trying to calm ******* down, I noticed what appeared to be identical finger marks on both of her upper arms.

The mother added that she was considering contacting her attorney. There is no word of any pending legal action.

Melissa Brewer has since been hired as Washington Elementary's acting principal.

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