Assault, underage drinking charges held for Bucks County mom behind conservative school movement
Teenagers describing drinking games, bottles of liquor and several altercations led a district judge to hold for trial charges of assault, harassment and furnishing minors with alcohol against a Bucks County mom and leader of the conservative "parental rights" movement.
One teen testified Monday that it was "common knowledge" that alcohol would be available at Clarice Schillinger's Buckingham home because "people were drinking there before," and another witness said that they took 15 shots of liquor and at one point partnered with the 36-year-old former lieutenant governor candidate in a game of beer pong.
Schillinger has been outspoken voice and leader in the conservative “parental rights” school movement and a political action committee thathas focused on supporting school board candidates who opposed COVID-19 lockdowns and argue left-wing ideologies are invading the education system.
Magisterial District Judge Stacy Wertman heard testimony in her Warwick courtroom as the commonwealth presented evidence supporting one summary and two misdemeanor charges filed against Schillinger stemming from a Sept. 29 birthday party she allegedly threw for her daughter.
Much of Monday's testimony covered details first reported by this news organization late last month from affadavits of probably cause.
More on Schillinger's charges: Bucks County mom behind conservative school movement charged with assault, giving teens alcohol
Schillinger made an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor as a Republican in 2022 and has played an instrumental role in a political action committee that has poured more than $800,000 into Pennsylvania school district races since 2021. The PAC has focused on supporting school board candidates who opposed COVID-19 lockdowns and argue left-wing ideologies are invading the education system.
In court Monday, two 16-year-old witnesses, A.M. and E.G., and C.E., an 18-year-old who was 17 at the time of the party, recalled seeing "Miss Clarice" taking shots and fraternizing with partygoers there to celebrate Schillinger's daughter's 17th birthday in September.
E.G. is the only witness at the hearing who admitted to drinking at the party,
Schillinger's mother, Danette Bert, and her then-boyfriend, Shan Wilson, were upstairs drinking and playing cards as E.G., one of the last 15 to 20 teens to arrive to the party at around 9 p.m., was directed to the basement — which the three witnesses all said had a stocked bar with several bottles of "clear liquor," beer and a beer pong table.
Bert and Wilson were said to have gotten into physical altercations with some of the teenagers, including the witness A.M., and both were previously charged with assault and harassment before those charges were dropped and the two pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in December.
C.E. told the judge Monday that he and a handful of others attempted to leave the party after tempers began flaring among the adults, but C.E. said he had to return and knock on the front door to get a friend the group had apparently left behind.
It was then that C.E. testified Schillinger answered the door and eventually said to him "the only thing I asked is that nobody leave the house." Schilinger then allegedly grabbed him by the shirt and hit him multiple times with a closed fist around his chin and cheek.
This week's hearing is just an early step in the legal process, as the case will now move to the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas for a formal arriagnment for Schillinger on March 1. There is no bail set and Schillinger remains out of police custody on her own recognizance.
In addition to supplying the underage group with alcohol, she allegedly poured liquor for the teens, asked them to take a shot with her and played beer pong with them, witnesses later told authorities. State law makes it illegal to serve or allow minors to drink alcohol.
Schillinger’s attorney Matthew Brittenburg did argue that the state hadn't established a prima facie case to warrant a charges for a simple assault or for "furnishing" alcohol to minors.
Brittenburg declined to comment as he and Schillinger left the courtroom Monday afternoon.
“Ms. Schillinger has dedicated her life to public service,” Brittenburg said in an emailed statement in January. “Additionally, she has always been a law abiding citizen. Ms. Schillinger looks forward to the opportunity to defend against these allegations.”
Once a legislative aide to former state Rep. Todd Stephens, of Horsham, Schillinger has become something of a figurehead in the parental right's movement in Pennsylvania.
In 2021, Schillinger formed a relatively small political action committee called Keeping Kids in School, which aimed to fund school board candidates who vowed to always maintain in-person education regardless of spikes in coronavirus cases.
That first PAC soon got the attention of Doylestown venture capitalist Paul Martino.
Together, Schillinger and Martino formed Back to School PA later that year and, mostly with Martino's own money, the two pumped more than $600,000 into slates of mostly Republican school board candidates in races all across the state in the months leading up to the 2021 municipal election.
Schillinger announced in 2022 that Back to School would be expanding to a national level, though Martino told this news organization in December that the project "never got off the ground" because another project took priority.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Charges held for trial against Clarice Schillinger, PA conservative school leader
