More details emerged Wednesday morning in the investigation at North Elementary School concerning an alleged assault of a student by the vice principal.
First, Principal Natalie Webb appeared in Monongalia County Magistrate Court on a charge of failing to report the incident in a timely manner.
And secondly, according to the criminal complaint about the Jan. 26 incident filed by Morgantown Police Detective R. Stallings, Carol Muniz could be seen on surveillance video striking a student who was being escorted out of his classroom for unruly behavior.
The student, an 8-year-old boy, was one of five students on the autism spectrum housed in the classroom at the school on Chestnut Ridge Road.
Stallings noted the interaction in the video, which he said showed the student actively resisting the whole time.
Moments before, the school’s Safety Care Team, which includes Muniz, had been summoned to intervene.
“Muniz responds to the student’s resistance,” the detective wrote, “by raising her hand, making a fist, and striking the student in the head.”
One parent of one of those students publicly chided Mon Board of Education members, saying her child had stopped sleeping – once during a 29-hour stretch – as he also grew agitated and increasingly fearful about going to school around the time of the incident.
Muniz, a longtime educator in the county who won national accolades as a physical science teacher, was initially placed on administrative leave at the start of the investigation.
Last month, she retired – after announcing last year the 2022-23 term would be her last.
It wasn’t immediately known Wednesday if criminal charges will follow.
In the meantime, Webb turned herself in on the charge against her.
As per state code, Child Protective Services must be notified in such cases where a student and teacher are involved.
Detectives, however, couldn’t find any records of any such call or report on Jan. 26.
A report did arrive Feb. 7 – a full 12 days after the incident – and that was after someone associated with North called Adam Henkins, the district’s school safety officer.
Henkins, in turn, promptly called MECCA 911 and CPS.
Mon Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. responded by placing Webb and Muniz on administrative leave, along with a substitute teacher and two aides in that classroom.
The two aides have since returned to North. The substitute teacher’s contract wasn’t renewed.
Neither Muniz, nor Webb or Campbell, responded to interview requests in time for this report.
Webb posted the required 10% of a $5,000 personal recognizance bond Wednesday.
In the meantime, her office is being occupied by Corey DeHaas, a vice principal at South Middle School, who was tapped to serve as North’s administrative leader in the interim.
Filling in as vice principal is Katherine Sherald, who currently holds that post at Westwood Middle.
But not long, perhaps.
A job posting on the state Department of Education job bank Wednesday showed an opening for an assistant principal job at Westwood for the coming year.
Jim Bissett contributed to this report.
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