CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK)–The Kanawha County Board of Education confirmed it will pay $5 million to the families of four children who attended Horace Mann Middle School in Kanawha City.
The settlement follows a spate of lawsuits against the district, following the arrests of four special needs educators suspected of abusing the children. Two of those educators have pled guilty and have been sentenced to jail.
Officials at KCSD say the money will be paid by their insurer, the West Virginia Board of Risk & Insurance Management.
Special needs teacher Anthony Wilson and his two aides, Lillian Branham and Walter Pannell, faced abuse allegations stemming from incidents alleged by the families. In September of 2021, an attorney for the victims said that security footage documented 110 instances of abuse over the course of three months.
Pannell pled guilty to battery charges and was sentenced to one year in jail.
Another aide at the school, James Lynch, was sentenced to two years in prison on two battery charges.
“The families are pleased that the civil litigation was amicably resolved,” said an attorney for the families, Ben Salango. “They continue to watch the remaining criminal cases with interest.”