CLEARFIELD – A former Clearfield County Career and Technology Center executive director accused of not reporting the inappropriate behavior of a substitute teacher was in court Thursday.
William H. Weaver, 56, 152 Lighthouse Ln., Bellefonte, pleaded guilty before Judge Paul E. Cherry to two misdemeanor counts of failure to report or refer and disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to two years probation.
Weaver is not to hold any position where he would be overseeing juveniles. He was ordered to undergo a mental health assessment and complete 100 hours of community service. Weaver was fined $1,100 plus costs.
These charges stem from incidents at the school when Darice J. Brady-McKee, 35, LaJose allegedly talked about her sexual encounters, displayed part of her breast and legs to students and showed other students naked photos of a man.
Prior to sentencing Assistant District Attorney Ryan Dobo explained that there were questions regarding the plea during a pre-sentence conference. He told Cherry that the charges were downgraded from a third-degree felony to a second degree misdemeanor based on the information. He said for the crime to be considered a felony, the Commonwealth would have to prove the defendant acted willfully and there were questions as to whether he was willful in this case or not.
“I think probation is appropriate,” Dobo said.
Weaver’s attorney, Karen Muir, stated that he was “ready to accept the consequences” of his actions and wanted to move forward.
When asked if he wanted to say anything, Weaver said no.
One other administrator, Cathy M. Thomas, 62, 274 Saint Agnes Dr., Morrisdale, who was the assistant director at the time of the incidents, is also charged in this case. Both she and Weaver have since resigned their positions. Her case is still pending.
Brady-McKee was originally charged with two felony counts of dissemination explicit sexual material to minors and 30 counts of corruption of minors. She pleaded guilty in March to one count of corruption of minors. Cherry sentenced her to three years probation and she was fined $350 plus costs.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, several students reported Brady-McKee to their regular teacher when she returned. They said Brady-McKee made comments about her personal sex life and showed them bruises on her breast from a sexual encounter. This was then reported to Thomas because Weaver was not in that day. He was however, informed of the situation when he returned.
The students supplied written statements of what had occurred. When police talked to Weaver about it, he stated he spoke to Brady-McKee in March 2015 and she denied the accusations. She was placed on a list of substitutes to call only if there was no one else available. Because of multiple teachers calling off work, he did allow her to substitute for a different class on March 31, 2015 and again on May 1.
When the students saw she was back on May 1, they complained and many of them contacted their parents. One of these parents then contacted police.
An officer asked Weaver why he didn’t report the March incident to the parents, Children and Youth Services or Child-Line but he didn’t give an answer.
An investigation was done starting with the statements the students had written.
Later when police attempted to contact Weaver, they discovered the phone number given by the school was incorrect and they were unable to set up an interview.