FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ/KFSN) — A former Fresno Unified principal is sentenced to probation after a dramatic shove caught on camera.
Brian Vollhardt was standing in the cafeteria of Wolters Elementary School when a student approached nearly three years ago. Seconds later, a shove sent the student flying.
“I look at the video over and over and over again,” the boy’s guardian, Ann Frank, said.
The boy was just 10 years old with special needs.
“I’m trying to figure out what gave him the right to take and toss my child across the room like that,” Frank said.
Vollhardt denied the child abuse and endangerment charge in 2022.
But in May, Vollhardt changed his plea when prosecutors dismissed the charge, and he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery.
“I know that my reaction was not acceptable,” Vollhardt said in court on Wednesday. “It is my hope and prayer that one day I can be forgiven by the student’s family.”
The judge sentenced Vollhardt to one year on probation, requiring 50 hours of community service and counseling in the Child Abusers’ Program.
He must pay a $550 fine and stay away from the student for three years.
“I don’t think it’s enough,” Frank said. “I think he should have gotten a stiffer sentence. He should’ve went to jail for what he did.”
State records show Vollhardt has active credentials issued after the incident, including one for administrative services and another for an educational specialist.
He is authorized to work with children on the autism spectrum.
“He is no longer teaching children,” defense attorney Roger Wilson said. “He’s not going to be in the educational system forever.”
The incident still impacts the student and his guardian.
“I am more alert about when I send him to school,” Frank said. “I’m very involved.”
