CHARLESTON – A fourth civil lawsuit has been filed against a Kanawha County special needs teacher over her treatment of students.
Parents Bethany and Matthew Boggs filed their complaint December 28 against teacher Nancy Boggs and the Kanawha County Board of Education. The plaintiffs filed on behalf of their daughter identified only as D.B., who has been diagnosed with P-136 Chromosome deletion syndrome. The girl attends Holz Elementary School, and defendant Boggs was her teacher.
According to the complaint, the girl has been subjected to physical and psychological abuse from defendant Boggs during her time at Holz. The parents say discovery will show that treatment includes being slapped, kicked and bitten by defendant Boggs.
Nancy Boggs
On November 18, Boggs was charged with 23 counts of battery and one count of verbal abuse of a non-communicative child. She was arraigned on the misdemeanor charges, and a trial date is set for April 4. The judge set a $100,000 bond.
Boggs, 66, has been under investigation since September when a student reported an incident to a school employee who reported it to administration. She resigned from her position November 1.
“Last year, defendant Boggs began making plaintiffs drop D.B. off at the door to her special education classroom and literally hand D.B. to defendant Boggs,” the latest complaint states. “Plaintiffs believe that this was strange and contrary to previous drop off protocol. Upon information and belief, and subject to confirmation during discovery, this change instituted by defendant Boggs was an attempt to hide her abuse behavior toward D.B. and others.”
The parents also say their daughter was afraid of being in rooms where the door was closed while she was a student of defendant Boggs. They say that is because of the abuse she suffered at the hands of defendant Boggs.
The parents say they learned of defendant Boggs’ abusive behavior in September when a video surfaced showing defendant Boggs abusing D.B. and other special needs students.
“The released video shows defendant Boggs slamming a computer next to D.B. in an attempt to intimidate her,” the complaint states. “The video released to plaintiffs shows D.B. physically flinched when defendant Boggs verbally abused her, as if she was waiting for defendant Boggs to physically abuse her.”
The parents accuse the defendants of violating the West Virginia Human Rights Act, negligence and civil assault and battery. They also file a tort of outrage and accuse the board of negligent hiring, supervision and retention.
They seek economic and noneconomic damages past and future, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Joshua Martin of The Martin Law Firm in Nitro. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Tera Salango.
The allegations in this complaint are similar to three others filed in November and December against the school board and Boggs.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 21-C-1196
