photo by: Shelley Hanson

Erin Cuffaro, director of special programs for Marshall County Schools, appears in Marshall County Magistrate Court on Dec. 16.

MOUNDSVILLE — A magistrate court hearing for Marshall County Schools Special Programs Director Erin Cuffaro was again continued Tuesday as she begins discussions with legal counsel.

Cuffaro and a large contingent of family members were present in the waiting area of the Marshall County Magistrate’s office well in time for her scheduled 10 a.m. hearing before Magistrate Zachary Allman.

Attorney Dean Makricostas of Weirton arrived just prior to the hearing and asked Cuffaro for a quick conference in private.

Then, after a short meeting in the hearing room with Allman and Prosecutor Joe Canestraro, Makricostas returned and wished the Cuffaros a happy New Year and motioned that they could leave.

“He hadn’t met her before this morning,” Canestraro said when announcing the continuance. He explained that Cuffaro hired Makricostas late last week.

Canestraro added a new hearing date will be scheduled “in the next couple of weeks.”

On Dec. 3, Cuffaro and McNinch Primary Principal Jane Duffy pleaded not guilty in Marshall County Magistrate Court to charges stemming from the alleged strangling of a 6-year-old non-verbal autistic student by McNinch special education teacher Kiersten Moses. The alleged incident took place on Sept. 16.

Cuffaro faces eight counts of felony gross neglect of child creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury; one misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse or neglect; one misdemeanor count of obstruction of law enforcement, probation, parole, court security, corrections officer with threats of harm; and one misdemeanor count of interference with officers or members and false information.

According to criminal complaints, Moses allegedly put her hands around the throat of the student and squeezed. A teacher’s aide in the room told Duffy, who told Cuffaro, according to the complaints. Allegedly, neither Duffy nor Cuffaro reported the incident to the Child Abuse Hotline, which is their obligation as mandatory reporters.

When questioned as to why she didn’t report the incident, Duffy allegedly showed a state trooper a text message from Cuffaro telling her to just talk to Moses about the incident and not give a verbal warning. When the state trooper questioned Cuffaro, she allegedly told the trooper she did tell Duffy to give a verbal warning and claimed she never sent the text, showing the trooper her phone. According to the complaint, the trooper saw that all text messages in Cuffaro’s phone from when that message was sent and earlier had been deleted. Cuffaro allegedly later admitted she did in fact send the text.

Duffy, meanwhile, faces one misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse or neglect.

Duffy and Cuffaro were both suspended without pay by the Marshall County Board of Education pending the results of the investigation.

The teacher Moses, meanwhile, has been charged with a felony count of strangulation, two felony counts of battery and assault of a disabled child and one count of felony child abuse. Moses resigned from her position on Oct. 5, and no longer works for the school system.

Separate hearings for Moses and Duffy also will take place in the coming weeks, according to Canestraro.