MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. — Marshall County Schools Superintendent Dr. Shelby Haines says the district is doing everything it can to ensure educators and administrators know they are mandated reporters by law.
Haines appeared on MetroNews Midday Thursday to discuss a reported classroom abuse case from September involving a six-year-old special needs student.
McNinch Elementary School special needs teacher Kiersten Moses, 22, was charged earlier in the month with four felony counts including two counts of assault or unlawful physical harm of a disabled child, strangulation and child abuse.
Moses is accused of strangling the non-verbal child. She resigned from her position in October.
Additionally, school principal Jane Ann Duffy and Marshall County Special Programs Director Erin Cuffaro are not working and are each facing charges for knowing about the incident and not taking action.
“My office has cooperated fully with the investigating officer. We have been working with not only State Police, but also the West Virginia Department of Education through this entire investigation and we will continue to do that,” Haines said Thursday on MetroNews Midday.
Haines says staff members know what they’re supposed to do when they see or hear something that needs reported.
“We have trained and re-trained all of our staff that we are all mandated reporters and if ever in doubt, report, report, report,” she said.
She says this student — who couldn’t speak up for themselves — was failed by these three staff members, and it should never happen again.
“I never want another one of these cases and we’re doing a lot in our county to ensure that that does not happen. We have done extensive training on mandated reporting. We have some legal teams coming and training our principals, giving them difficult situations and making them work as a team to figure out exactly what you would do in a case,” she said.
Haines said the district has also contracted with an independent agency to evaluate the special education program from top to bottom.
“We want to ensure parents and the community that this situation is being taken very seriously, and we don’t want to leave any stone unturned,” she said.
Marshall County Commission President Scott Varner is serving as the interim principal at McNinch Elementary
Haines says despite the recent headlines, good things are happening at the school.
“Our parents can have confidence that their children are safe in school, they’re learning and they’re enjoying school,” Haines said. “We have an interim principal who brings over 35 years of experience who is working over at that school and there’s lots of smiles of kids entering the building and lots of good things going on.”