Natalie Webb, the North Elementary School principal who for months has been at the center of an investigation alleging the physical abuse of special-needs students at the hands of staffers at her school, was fired by the district last week – over charges of failing to report said incidents in a timely and proper manner.
Her attorney, Drew M. Capuder, said she’ll appeal.
The action came in a closed personnel hearing last Thursday.
That was when Board of Education members, acting on the recommendation of Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr., voted unanimously to terminate the veteran educator’s contract.
In a statement provided to The Dominion Post on Tuesday afternoon, Capuder said Webb is being railroaded out of an accomplished career – in a case built on inaccuracies.
“The public information and rumors surrounding student behavioral incidents at North Elementary have been grossly mischaracterized and inaccurately reported by the news media and social media outlets,” Capuder said.
“Principal Webb was not present at and did not witness any of these incidents,” he continued.
Her role “was to take swift and appropriate investigative actions as soon as she learned of the incidents,” he said.
Further: “Principal Webb has been denied due process and has been ‘guilty until proven innocent,’ since the very beginning of Superintendent Campbell’s investigation.”
Campbell, her counsel said, “did not give Principal Webb a full and fair opportunity to provide relevant testimony before disciplinary decisions were made.”
Reporting – or not
A principal not providing pertinent facts, though, the superintendent said, is what led the district’s investigation in the first place.
The incidents in question date back to Jan. 26 of this year – and last Nov. 16, before that.
Both involve incidents of alleged aggression in the disciplining of unruly students.
Both, according to the district and Morgantown Police Detective R. Stallings, were captured on surveillance video.
And both, Campbell said, involved two students who were among the more vulnerable of North’s population.
Carol Muniz, North’s then-vice principal, is at the center of the January incident.
An 8-year-old boy identified as having special needs, had become unruly and was being escorted from his classroom by North’s Safety Care Team, which included Muniz.
In the criminal complaint, the detective noted seeing Muniz, on video, using her fist to strike the student, who was struggling and resisting in the hallway the whole time, in the back of the head.
Muniz, who has since retired, answered a battery charge in Monongalia Magistrate Court.
That incident wasn’t reported until Feb. 12, Campbell said – when another North teacher whom he didn’t name made a call to the district.
And case of the student who suffered alleged abuse last November wasn’t reported at all, the superintendent said.
That one came to light by chance, he said, as he and other district officials were poring over surveillance video from Room 139, which housed five students on the Autism spectrum.
In that footage, again viewed by Detective Stallings, a 6-year-old boy, diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and an accompanying Language Impairment, began acting aggressively toward his classmates.
At the front of the classroom was Diane Ellis, a longtime substitute in the county who was a certified teacher – though not in autism or special education.
Both Ellis and classroom aide Chrissy Areford attempted to both calm the boy and discipline him, but that, Stallings reported in his complaint from that incident, devolved to taunts, and even abuse, as the child didn’t comply.
Areford, the detective said, was witnessed grabbing the boy’s arms.
She then “forcefully threw him,” Stallings said, into a designated time-out area, blocked from view of the security camera by strategically placed furniture.
The district also terminated Ellis’ contract and suspended Areford.
While Ellis has since answered two felony count charges of battery and assault on a disabled child, it wasn’t immediately known Tuesday if charges were pending for Areford.
A lawsuit is, however.
The mother of the boy is suing her, Ellis and the Board of Education for an unspecified dollar amount.
Body of work
Speaking Tuesday, Campbell said he couldn’t offer specifics on any of the above, given the court cases and criminal investigation involved.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said, “but we have to do what we have to do, keep our kids safe. We have to give them the safest learning environment possible.”
The district, he said, was measured in all facets of an investigation that began in earnest in January while leading to its actions last Thursday.
Mon Schools, he said, immediately began stepping up its training for aides in special-needs classrooms.
“These are lessons learned,” he said. “It’s important we get this right.”
The above incidents have put a shadow over a school otherwise lauded for its international diversity and academic excellence, Capuder said.
If it’s a matter of reporting and accountability, he said, circling back, a school principal, given the complexity of the job, sometimes only knows what she’s told.
Webb, who was principal at North for 12 years, has been in education for nearly 30 years, Capuder said.
She’s also a national-certified board teacher known for her innovations at North, he said, including its nationally known agriculture-based learning programs and its regular “Best Of” placements in the state and region due to its test scores.
“That’s a testament to her leadership,” he said.
Webb’s nightly read-aloud sessions via remote while her students were sequestered at home, he notes, were also well-received.
“Principal Webb is confident that she will be ultimately vindicated by the process.”
TWEET@DominionPostWV
