Clarice Schillinger, executive director of the so-called parents’ rights group Back to School USA and a former candidate for Pennsylvania’s Lieutenant Governor, has been charged with allegedly assaulting and furnishing minors with liquor at her daughter’s 17th birthday party in her Doylestown home. At least one of the teens vomited, one passed out in her bathroom, and Schillinger also allegedly punched one of them when they tried to leave her home.
Schillinger — whose group opposes “liberal special interest groups that are responsible for indoctrinating our children” into “the woke education establishment” — held the party on September 29, 2023, and 20 teens attended. The party, which was held in Schillinger’s basement, reportedly had a bar with New Amsterdam vodka and Malibu rum as well as a beer pong table.
Three teen attendees, whose names have been kept private, told a district court, “It was common knowledge” that you could drink at Schillinger’s house without even having to ask, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The teens told the court Schillinger took liquor shots with them, even though it’s illegal to provide alcohol to anyone under the age of 21 or allow them to drink.
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One boy, a high school sophomore, said he played beer pong with Schillinger and ended up drinking about 15 vodka shots as a result. He later fell asleep in a bathroom at her house. One teen claimed that Schillinger drank “five to eight” shots, and that most of the party’s teen attendees were also drinking. Another teen attendee said that Schillinger drunkenly sat in his lap and told him, “You’re my favorite.” He quickly said he had to use the bathroom to escape the situation.
Later on, another sophomore boy went to check on his girlfriend who was vomiting in another bathroom. The boy said he witnessed Schillinger and her boyfriend arguing. He said that Schillinger’s boyfriend punched a wall, and the boy asked Schillinger if she wanted her boyfriend to leave. When Schillinger replied “Yes,” her boyfriend allegedly “grabbed my neck and slammed me into the wall,” the boy told the court.
That boy reportedly came down into the basement crying afterward, and a group of teens stated their intention to leave. That “started a whole confrontation” one teen said, as Schillinger’s mother, Danette Bert, reportedly began physically fighting with a teen girl in the kitchen.
When one teen boy left and then re-entered the house to get one of his friends, he said Schillinger “grabbed me by my shirt and hit me,” punching him with a closed fist, and saying, “My only thing I asked is that nobody leave the house.”
Schillinger’s lawyer, Matthew Brittenburg, said that Schillinger shouldn’t face charges because no one could prove who purchased the alcohol, even though state law forbids either serving minors alcohol or allowing them to drink. The lawyer also said that the teen who Schillinger allegedly assaulted was 6-foot-8 inches tall and suffered no injuries.
While Schillinger’s boyfriend and mother were charged with simple assault and harassment, the charges were dropped in December 2023, and both pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. Schillinger’s arraignment will be held on March 1. She currently remains out of jail on her own recognizance.
Schillinger and her Back to School group spent $600,000 in the 2021 school board elections, backing Republican candidates who shared her group’s opposition to “liberal” “indoctrination,” a dog whistle which often means LGBTQ+- and racially-inclusive school content and policies.
She ran as a Republican for lieutenant governor in 2022, but lost in the May primary after getting just 11.9% of the vote.