Lyn Vijayendran wept as the judge read the guilty verdict. The 36-year-old educator was principal at San Jose's O.B. Whaley Elementary when an 8t-year-old student told her the teacher blindfolded her and put a strange substance in her mouth.
The district attorney hopes the verdict is a warning to other educators.
"She needed to be held accountable, and we needed to send a message to the rest of the mandatory reporters in our community that their obligation is to report, not to investigate," Deputy District Attorney Alison Filo said.
Vijayendran will not go to jail. The judge sentenced her to six months of probation, a $602 fine and 100 hours of community service.
Jurors sympathized with her, but said she must face the consequences.
"She didn't do what she knew she should do; she had a suspicion and she didn't act on it, and the consequences were just abominable," juror Susan Lagassa said.
The teacher, Craig Chandler, is facing charges of lewd conduct with five of his students.
