Former Durham school official faces new charge in alleged, child abuse cover-up case
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- Tanya Giovanni was indicted again Monday and now faces six charges.
- Giovanni was a deputy superintendent for Durham Public Schools but was fired in March.
- Giovanni’s charges stem from an investigation into child abuse at a Durham school.
A former Durham Public Schools official was indicted again Monday and now faces an additional charge in an allegedly improperly handled child abuse investigation.
Tanya Giovanni, 55, of Raleigh was arrested in January on five charges of obstructing justice, The News & Observer previously reported. Giovanni, the school system’s chief of staff and deputy superintendent for administrative, legal and compliance services, is accused of delaying an investigation by Durham police into allegations an Eno Valley Elementary School teaching assistant tied a student with autism to a chair.
Giovanni and two others — Eno Valley’s principal, Tounya Wright, and senior executive director of employee relations Ayesha Hunter — were all indicted in January. Their cases remained pending in Durham County Superior Court as of Tuesday morning.
The indictment filed Monday against Giovanni adds another count of felony obstruction of justice, newly alleging that she told a human resources employee Dec. 19 that the employee could not interview Wright “to prevent the staff member from creating a statement that could [sic] obtained by law enforcement.”
Court documents don’t indicate whether Giovanni will be rearrested to reflect the additional charge. She’d previously posted a $10,000 secured bond, but failed to show up to court last month when her attorney filed a motion to withdraw from the case, court records indicate.
Should Giovanni appear late or fail to appear for another court hearing, she could face an order for her arrest, Judge Brian C. Wilks wrote in an April 20 court document.
Giovanni is a lawyer herself and has held an active license with the North Carolina State Bar since February 2011, state records show. She was fired from her position in March.
Durham County DA’s office asked for meeting
Superintendent Anthony Lewis said in January the three administrators were suspended Dec. 19, a day after he learned of a search warrant police executed at school system headquarters. But emails released to The N&O this month show the Durham County District Attorney’s Office reached out to Lewis in early November — and didn’t get a response until Jan. 5.
In a Nov. 12 email, Assistant District Attorney Sarah Al-Zoubi emailed Lewis to invite him to meet with her and District Attorney Satana Deberry “so that I can bring you into the issues that we are having with full legal compliance of court orders.”
In his Jan. 5 response, Lewis apologized for the delay.
“The attorneys at Tharrington made me aware of your email, and I regret that I did not get caught up on this message while I was in Austin participating in the Inter-City visit with the Durham Chamber,” Lewis wrote. “Once my new Executive Assistant is hired, I will implement processes to ensure this does not happen again.”
It appears that meeting may have finally occurred at the end of January, after the indictments were issued, according to email records.
“We view the DA’s Office as a valuable partner in protecting our students,” Lewis told the media in a Jan. 22 press conference. He said the school system would be establishing “regular communications” with Deberry’s office “to ensure we are fully cooperating with investigative efforts.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 11:31 AM.
