Former special ed teacher gets 10-year prison sentence for classroom battery

KANAWHA COUNTY, W. Va. — A former special education teacher in West Virginia will spend 10 years behind bars for battering students in her care.

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Nancy Boggs, who pleaded guilty in May to 10 misdemeanor counts of battery involving several students, was sentenced Tuesday to 12 months for each count, with the sentences running consecutively, WSAZ-TV reported.

Boggs, 67, of Charleston taught at Holz Elementary School, WCHS-TV reported.

According to WSAZ, Boggs made several admissions throughout the trial, including hitting one female student with a cabinet door, pulling her hair, and pulling a chair out from under her. She also admitted to slamming another child’s head into a desk and slapping a third child.

“To the victim and their families, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for hurting your children and your families. I apologize for breaking your trust that you had in me as their teacher, and I accept full responsibility for the harm that I have caused you, your children and your families,” Boggs said in a prepared statement during sentencing.

According to WCHS, however, the apology did not sway Judge Maryclaire Akers, who criticized Boggs sharply during the hearing.

“You turned your classroom into a place of what can only be described as torture,” Akers said, adding, “I sincerely wish I could give you more.”

Surveillance cameras captured the criminal acts, including September 2021 incidents spanning several days that prompted Boggs’ prosecution, WSAZ reported.

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