Carol Muniz, the former North Elementary School vice principal who was found not guilty this week on a charge of battery against a student, said she was glad she got to present her story – even if, as she did allow, it was a long time coming.
“It took a year, but I finally got to tell my story, and a jury of my peers listened, and found me innocent,” she said in a statement Wednesday delivered by her attorney, Bryan Edwards.
“I am so thankful to my family, friends, school parents, colleagues, and legal team who stood by me and knew that I was not capable of what I was accused,” she said.
A Monongalia County jury delivered the verdict the day before in the case dating back to Jan. 26, 2023, that put a cloud over a school otherwise lauded for its high test scores and international diversity of its student body.
A Morgantown Police detective who observed surveillance video said the administrator could be seen striking an unruly student in the back the head with her fist.
Her attorney, though, countered to say that what was reported was far different from what actually happened.
The student, an 8-year-old boy identified as having ADHD, “was acting violently and presenting a danger to himself and other students in the classroom,” Edwards said.
Muniz was part of the school’s safety response team on call to quell such situations, the attorney said.
“While attempting to remove the student to another area of the school, where no other students were present, the student repeatedly kicked, punched, and attempted to trip Mrs. Muniz,” Edwards said.
“After purposely being punched directly in the face by the student, Mrs. Muniz, in self-defense, threw out her arm, which did make contact with the student,” the attorney continued.
The assistant principal, the attorney said, was continually punched and kicked – “but made no other attempts to defend herself” – as she managed to get the student to an empty room, where he was then calmed.
Both Muniz and then-Principal Natalie Webb were placed on administrative leave when the district launched its own in-house investigation.
Webb’s contract was terminated for failing the report the incident in a timely manner, stemming from the January events – and another incident involving the disciplining of another student by staff that had gone unreported altogether, the district said.
Webb also retained an attorney earlier, but details of her case weren’t immediately known Wednesday.
In the meantime, Muniz, the district said, had already announced months before of her intention to retire.
Edwards, however, said his client was “forced to take early retirement or be terminated,” even as the state Department of Health and Human Services, in its own investigation “made a finding that no abuse occurred.”
Mon Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. said Wednesday neither he nor the district would comment further on the verdict or the case in general.
“Mrs. Muniz retired,” he said.
“She’s no longer an employee of the school system and there really isn’t anything else we could say or should say. We want to respect her privacy.”
But respect wasn’t shown to Muniz, Edwards countered.
The filing of charges in the first place, he said, amounted to a “miscarriage of justice” – for a 26-year educator in the county who previously earned national accolades as a teacher before moving into administration.
“This incident and being charged with a crime were extremely difficult on Mrs. Muniz and her family, and was something that she should never have had to go through,” Edwards said.
Muniz, meanwhile, now sees the legal fallout of her circumstance as a cautionary tale.
“My wish,” she said in her statement, “is that we take a look at the safety of both students and teachers in our schools to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
