Constance Days-Chapman with her attorney, Lee Vartan.
The Atlantic City High School principal accused of failing to report abuse claims by the daughter of the city's mayor pleaded not guilty Thursday.
She was first charged in March, the same day Mayor Marty Small's home was searched as part of the investigation.
He and his wife, Superintendent Dr. La'Quetta Small, were charged the next month in connection with the alleged beating of their 16-year-old daughter. Both face second-degree child endangerment charges.
The Smalls were indicted a week after Days-Chapman.
The mayor has said he will not step down from his position, and noted that he has not missed a beat despite a raid on his home and the criminal charges that followed.
The pair is expected to be arraigned next Thursday.
Their teen daughter allegedly went to a school employee about her allegations, saying she already had talked to Days-Chapman, who the Small children know as "Aunt Mandy."
It's that close relationship with the Smalls that is the real reason Days-Chapman was charged, her attorney has alleged after her first court appearance.
"It's very clear to me that Ms. Days is collateral damage in all of this," attorney Lee Vartan said in May. "But for her relationship with the mayor and the superintendent, she wouldn't be in this position."
As news of Wednesday's indictment was made public, he continued to deny his client has committed any crime.
"Mandy is innocent of the charges in the indictment," Vartan told BreakingAC. "We provided the Prosecutor’s Office with incontrovertible evidence of her innocence. The prosecutor ignored it; the jury will not."
Days-Chapman has been on paid leave from her position as principal, even as the Board of Education has refused to address either her charges or the superintendent's.
Dr. Small remains in her position.
