Former Eastlawn principal rejects plea deal in child sex case

Former Eastlawn Elementary School principal Daniel Stephen McInnis rejected a plea offer Monday in Alamance County Superior Court, leaving a child sex case tied to Burlington schools to move forward on three felony counts and one misdemeanor.

Prosecutors, led by assistant district attorney Elizabeth Olivier, had offered a resolution that would have let McInnis plead guilty to a lesser offense, crime against nature, with probation. Instead, Judge C. Douglas Green entered an order after the hearing and the case remained on track for further court proceedings.

McInnis, 45, of Burlington, was indicted April 7 by an Alamance County grand jury on statutory sex offense with a child by an adult, sexual activity with a student by school personnel and indecent liberties with a child. The grand jury also returned a misdemeanor sexual battery charge. If convicted on the felony counts, a later report said he would face sex-offender registration.

The case began more than two years earlier, when Burlington police opened a Special Victims Unit investigation on Dec. 8, 2023, after receiving information about alleged misconduct by a school administrator at Eastlawn Elementary School. Early court reporting identified the alleged offense date as Nov. 21, 2023, and identified the alleged victim as a 9-year-old Eastlawn student.

McInnis was booked into the Alamance County Detention Center on Dec. 29, 2023, and was initially held on a $500,000 bond. In January 2024, Alamance-Burlington school officials said he would be recommended for termination by the school board, and retired principal Donna King was named interim principal.

The rejection of the plea deal matters because it keeps the matter in the criminal justice system instead of ending it with a negotiated conviction and probation. That means more hearings, more evidence disputes and more public attention around a former elementary school leader accused of conduct that allegedly involved both a child and school personnel. For Alamance-Burlington schools, the case continues to raise questions about employee oversight, reporting pathways and how quickly concerns about a staff member can move from a school property allegation to a criminal indictment.

The April 7 indictments marked a major escalation, but the plea hearing showed the case is still far from over. McInnis now faces the prospect of a prolonged court process that could keep the allegations in front of parents, staff members and district leaders well into the months ahead.