As school districts across the state set aside funding for items such as classroom video cameras, West Virginians got a reminder of the horrific case that prompted a law to require such additions.
Kanawha County Schools and former teacher Nancy Boggs recently settled lawsuits totaling nearly $12 million in cases involving Boggs' abuse of special education students in her classroom.
According to the Associated Press, Boggs was seen on surveillance video abusing multiple students at Holz Elementary School in Charleston, in 2021. She admitted to hitting one student with a cabinet door, pulling her hair and pulling a chair out from under her. Boggs also admitted to slamming another child's head into a desk and slapping a third child.
As Boggs was being sentenced to 10 years in prison for her crimes, Judge Maryclaire Akers said the teacher made her "classroom into a place of … torture."
It is difficult to believe, though we know other communities across the state have dealt with similar instances in which monsters masquerading as educators made their way into classrooms. Boggs' case is all the more nauseating because she was dealing with special education students.
Perhaps the new law will make some headway in that regard, as state law now requires cameras in classrooms, and video footage must be kept for a full year and be regularly viewed by administrators.
There can be no leniency should those administrators spot something that must be reported.
Attorney Ben Salango, who represented three of the seven plaintiffs, called Boggs' case "probably one of the worst abuses we've seen in West Virginia."
Money won't cover what those students and their families suffered, but it might serve as a reminder to any administrator or board thinking of sweeping under the rug similar behavior by teachers or staff.