Olean Star – Eric M. Firkel
Opinion
UPDATED 1/4/2026
On December 12, Jeff Andreano was charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Harassment in the City of Olean, after an incident with a student earlier in December.
The same day Jeff was charged, there was a fight at the Olean High School. Students sheltered in place and teachers and staff were reluctant to intervene and break up the fight, lest they be put on administrative leave by the District or charged criminally like Jeff. When the fight was over, an Olean High School student was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries.
These two events, occurring on the same day call into question the role of teachers in 2025, and how policies that are intended to protect students can go too far and put students at risk.
Rick Miller had a story prepared to drop on December 12, but we sat on it over the weekend because some of the facts did not make sense. Rick attempted to get statements from the alleged victim’s mother, the police, the District and Andreano’s counsel. By Monday, we had not heard from all parties, but we had given everyone the opportunity to provide comment. We corrected some earlier inaccuracies, but since Jeff was only charged with one Misdemeanor, we decided not to publish.
There was no reason to write a story that would invariably get picked up by the Buffalo stations due to the bombastic headline. “Olean Principal charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child.” Then the Olean Times Herald published an article where they predictably got the facts wrong (Jeff was not charged with more than one misdemeanor), and then lazily used Dr. Morris’s statement as filler; so we felt obliged to publish our article which was, at least factually accurate.
Factually accurate as it was, our article was not complete. I am sensitive to people wrongfully getting bad ink. After speaking with several witnesses here is some of the context we did not have when we published and we will pose some questions on the role of teachers and school administrators in 2025.
OBSERVATION 1: WHEN PEOPLE USE THE ‘PASSIVE VOICE’ THEY’RE USUALLY EITHER LYING, AVOIDING RESPONSIBILITY, OR THEY’RE JUST BAD WRITERS.
Dr. Morris’s statement was terrible. She referred to Jeff Andreano as “an administrator” when she says she “was recently made aware of an administrator’s arrest.” The guy’s been teaching in Olean for decades. Everyone at the school knew who she was talking about. At least give the guy the respect of using his name.
Dr. Morris then doubles down on the passive voice and double speak. She says this is a confidential matter; then she says they will handle this matter with transparency. She speaks of student safety as students are carted off to OGH via ambulance because another school fight.
Here are questions Dr. Morris should answer:
Where was the school resource officer? Why wasn’t he involved?
If he was off school property, why?
Are teachers ever allowed to physically restrain a student? What if the student is beating a smaller student? What if the aggressor student has a weapon? What if the weapon is a gun? Can teachers protect themselves? Can they protect students?
Would the school resource officer have been placed on administrative leave if he had physically restrained a student? Would the school resource officer have been charged criminally?
Historically, teachers stood ‘in loco parentis’, that’s a Latin phrase that means in the place of the parents. I know it’s 2025, but parents are still permitted to use physical force to protect themselves and other children.
OBSERVATION 2: DON’T CRY RACISM WHEN THERE IS NONE.
The alleged-victim’s mother broke into the passive voice as well, when she said “[m]y son was involved in a situation with another child previously, but there wasn’t an argument or altercation between my son and the principal, until Jeff made it that.”
Let me translate that into reality:
“My 6’2’’ 300lb son was fighting with a smaller kid a few minutes earlier, but that was between the two of them. It wasn’t any of the Principal’s business.”
Also, back in reality, here’s what actually happened:
The alleged victim a 6’2, 300 pound-14-year-old Freshman got into a fight with a smaller kid. They were friends, but the rough housing back and forth went too far and the teacher had to break it up. The two students were taken to the District offices. The students were separated on opposite sides of the hallway. The alleged victim was taken to Jeff Andreano’s office. The other student was taken to the vice principal’s office. The alleged victim did not want to be in Jeff’s office and began raging.
The student completely lost it and took off storming down the hallway. The secretary and a teacher told him he could not leave and that he had to sit and wait. The alleged victim ignored them, left anyway and the secretary and a teacher began chasing him down the hallway. That’s when Jeff came around the corner. Jeff saw a large student coming right at him with two OHS employees chasing after. Jeff tried to get in front of him and said “get back in my office” the 6’2, 300 pound alleged victim refused and tried to bull through him, so Jeff got in his way.
The alleged victim then began raging and screaming at Jeff Andreano calling Jeff an expletive that begins with N and ends in a hard R. The student specifically screamed: “this nigger has his hands all over my neck… this nigger is choking me.” Jeff did not use any expletives or derogatory words toward the student.
The student was also lying. Jeff never choked the student. In fact, there were at least three or four other adults also trying to physically redirect this giant freshman back to the office and out of the hallway. They will all attest that Jeff did not attempt to choke the student.
Jeff did not really even physically restrain the alleged victim. At most, he grabbed the student’s arms and redirected him toward the office. He did not have a wrestling hold on the student or restrain him in any significant way. At most, Jeff’s hands may have slid up near the student’s neck when the alleged victim tried to bull Jeff over. The whole interaction lasted maybe 20 to 30 seconds.
Here’s another question for the district: did they speak to any witnesses before putting Jeff on leave? The version that I laid out is pretty unanimous. This kid was roughly 6’2’’ 300lbs. Jeff is 5’9’’ maybe 175lbs. The kid was almost twice his size and one fourth his age. Jeff is neither an accomplished wrestler or a martial artist, the fact that he was able to hold the giant freshman back is actually impressive.
Mom’s statement goes further, she said her son is Black. She accuses Andreano of “discriminating against” her son. She says, “I guess my main reason for pursuing all of this wasn’t just to make sure my son gets justice, but it’s to make sure that [Andreano] doesn’t have the opportunity to discriminate against a child again.”
The truth is we should fight racial discrimination on all fronts; but to do so effectively, we have to be honest and be able to call bullshit. I’m calling bullshit.
Based on multiple eyewitness reports, Jeff Andreano only discriminated against the student who raged in his office, was insubordinate to a secretary and another teacher and tried to run him over. There were three other OHS employees also trying to hold back this kid. Neither Jeff or anyone else trying to hold that student back was doing so because of the kid’s race. If he had been White or Asian or even Orange, they would have acted the same.
Any 14 year old can turn it around. The kid’s whole life is in front of him. A good first step would be taking responsibility for his actions and not hiding behind his Mommy looking for racism where there is none.
OBSERVATION 3: DISTRICT ATTORNEY LORI RIEMAN WAS NOT CONSULTED BEFORE ANDREANO WAS CHARGED. SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN.
Lori Rieman was the Cattaraugus County District Attorney. She served in that position since 2010. Before that, she served as an ADA. Initially Capt. Blovsky told Rick Miller that the Olean Police Department consulted with the District Attorney before filing charges. That did not make sense to me. I confirmed that Rieman was not consulted. The OPD later confirmed they consulted Assistant District Attorney Sara Zaprowski before charging Andreano.
Zaprowski handles Olean City Court matters for the District Attorney’s office. She typically does a good job, but she’s been a lawyer for less than two years. Capt. Blovsky has been a police officer for decades. The Olean Police Department did not see enough on the video or have enough other evidence to make the decision to charge Andreano; so they let the DA’s office make the decision.
Unfortunately, ADA Zaprowski did not consult with Rieman before charging Andreano. The decision to charge or not charge Andreano should have been a Rieman decision (or if she believed she had a conflict, a Special Prosecutor’s decision). Anytime an otherwise law-abiding citizen, with no criminal record is looking at charges arising out of messy facts for the prosecution, it’s a decision for the boss. It’s not a decision for a second-year lawyer.
I’ve practiced law in Cattaraugus County for 14 years. Given the facts as I understand them, Lori Rieman would not have charged Andreano.
Rieman and I have had bitter disagreements over cases and I even supported Mark Williams over Rieman for District Attorney in 2013. But I can say unequivocally that she has never treated a client of mine or defendant unfairly.
Rieman would have treated Jeff fairly, and I do not believe she would have charged him with these flimsy facts. I say this knowing that Jeff’s wife, Kelly Andreano is one of the County Legislators that is wrongfully denying Rieman health insurance in retirement (more on that in another article).
Bottom line, when degenerates fire off pistols on King Street, the Assistants can handle those decisions on whether or not to file charges. When legitimate people are accused on suspect facts, the District Attorney herself should make those decisions.
I read some campaign literature that incoming District Attorney Ashley Smith is an “experienced prosecutor”, I hope that’s true and that her “multi-level review process” will ensure important decisions are made at the top in 2026, so this type of mistake does not happen again.
The prosecutor handling this case should drop the charges on Monday.
OBSERVATION 4: JEFF ANDREANO IS LOOKING OUT FOR PORTVILLE
As a 2003 graduate of Portville Central School, I can say that if Olean can’t figure this out, I’d welcome Jeff in Portville. Among other things he could offer Portville, a lot of people don’t know this but we Portville Panthers owe Jeff Andreano already.
I am a competitive guy and I hate to see Portville falling behind Olean in any respect. For decades, we Portville Panthers have been grossly under-represented in mug shots. I understand that Jeff selflessly donned Portville colors for his mug shot. We appreciate the gallows humor. We appreciate the maroon and white. We also appreciate you helping us close the gap.
Hang in there Jeff.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. STAR NEWS LLC. ERIC M. FIRKEL.
