McNinch Primary School

A special needs teacher at McNinch Primary School in Moundsville, along with the school’s principal and the director of special programs for Marshall County Schools now all face charges stemming from accusations of the teacher grabbing a special needs student by the neck.

Teacher Kiersten Nicole Moses faces a felony count of strangulation, two felony counts of battery and assault of a disabled child and one count of felony child abuse.

Erin Cuffaro, the school district’s director of special programs, 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.

Jane Duffy, McNinch Primary principal, faces one misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse or neglect.

All three pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Marshall County Magistrate Court and posted bond.

According to the criminal complaint against Moses, a West Virginia State Trooper was investigating a complaint made on Oct. 8 of alleged abuse of a McNinch student on Sept. 18. According to the complaint, Moses allegedly grabbed a 6-year-old girl, who is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum, by the neck with both hands and squeezed.

The incident was recorded on video, according to the complaint and the trooper reviewed the video. In his report, he said he saw Moses interact with the girl near a door in the special needs classroom. The girl appeared to become agitated and advance toward Moses. Moses allegedly reacted by placing both hands on the child’s neck and squeezing for about six seconds.

According to the complaint, a school aide witnessed the incident and took the girl to the nurse’s office, where the nurse took photos of red marks on the girl’s neck.

According to the complaint, the trooper reviewed more video from Sept. 16, where Moses stood behind the girl, grabbed her arms and pulled them in a criss-cross behind the girl’s back “in a needless and uncomfortable position.”

According to the complaints against Duffy and Cuffaro, the aide alerted Duffy to the incident and Duffy reported the incident to Cuffaro. According to the complaints, both reviewed the video of the incident.

The trooper asked Duffy why she did not report the incident through the Child Abuse Hotline. Duffy’s position makes her a mandated reporter who must report any incident of child abuse within 24 hours. Duffy allegedly showed the trooper a text message from Cuffaro which read, “My day is crazy. She did put her hands on (the student’s) neck briefly. Please talk with her about this. Not a verbal reprimand at this point, but tell her to watch putting her hands on children when it is not necessary.”

The trooper then spoke to Cuffaro on multiple occasions, according to the complaints. The trooper said Cuffaro told him she did tell Duffy to give Moses a verbal reprimand. When confronted about the text message, Cuffaro allegedly told the trooper she did not send it and offered to show him proof.

According to the complaints, the trooper said it appeared the message had been deleted, as was everything else prior to that specific message. Everything after that specific message remained on the phone. According to the complaints, Cuffaro later admitted to sending the message.

Because Cuffaro did not remove Moses from the classroom, the trooper said that placed eight students in the classroom in danger of being injured, which led to the eight felony counts against Cuffaro. According to the complaints, Cuffaro also failed to report the abuse, nor did she direct Duffy or another subordinate to do so.

Marshall County Schools Superintendent Shelby Haines provided a statement on the situation.

“Our top priority is educating children,” Haines said. “We have been and will continue to collaborate with law enforcement, the West Virginia Department of Education and legal counsel.”