MARTINSBURG — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey amended his previous complaint against Berkeley County educators to add the school principal, deputy superintendent and the Berkeley County Board of Education.
Morrisey amended the complaint in an effort to hold accountable anyone who threatens to assault an individual because of his or her disability. Morrisey also referred the matter for potential criminal prosecution, alleging a violation of the state's duty to report suspected abuse, which is a misdemeanor offense.
“School administrators must be held to a higher standard, one that protects our children and vigorously responds to allegations of abuse," Morrisey said. “Today’s actions reaffirm our commitment to protect the most vulnerable of our society, especially children.”
The lawsuit originally accused a teacher, Chistina Lester, and two aides, June Yurish and Kristin Douty, of verbally assaulting two non-verbal children with autism. The conduct was captured when a mother of one of the children hid a recorder in her daughter's hair to secretly record what was happening to her daughter while at school in November at Berkeley Heights Elementary School in Martinsburg.
Berkeley Heights Principal Amber Boeckmann and Berkeley County Deputy Superintendent Margaret F. Kursey were now added to the complaint after they actively tried to hinder the investigation and obscure evidence with a flawed investigation, an order to destroy the recording and a failure to report the matter to Child Protective Services, according to a press release by the Attorney General's Office.
Berkeley County Board of Education was also named as a defendant in the case. Morrisey argues in the complaint that it bears responsibility because those committing the allegations did so during the course of their employment with the board.
Morrisey is seeking a court order declaring that Lester, Yurish, Douty, Boeckmann, Kursey and the Berkeley County Board of Education violated the state’s Human Rights Act. He is also seeking a $5,000 civil penalty for each violation and an injunction to block the individual defendants from having any contact with the students in question or their family members.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Laura Faircloth.
Berkeley Circuit Court Case number: CC-02-2019-89
