Disabled Tecumseh boy is victim in child abuse case against teacher at Ozark Horizon School

Tecumseh resident Greg Moss has told the Times that his 9-year-old son has been abused and is one of two named victims in a set of cases in which more than half a dozen teachers from the Ozark Horizon School for severely disabled children in West Plains have been indicted for child abuse/neglect and endangering the welfare of children. All seven teachers have been fired.

Moss explained that his son is non-verbal and has Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS), a condition that involves autistic tendencies. He said the boy is also epileptic and is delayed mentally and physically causing him to be about the size of a 5-year-old child, although he is 9.

“I want people to know that this is happening. This is the fourth incident that has been investigated but the only ones that could be proven,” Moss told the Times Monday. “Something fundamentally needs to change with the people who are put in charge of these children who cannot even tell us when something bad is happening. We were told that after the first incident with the other student, aides were told not to hotline abuse calls but to file an incident report for review by the superior official. These are mandated reporters that are required to immediately call an abuse hotline if they witness abuse. Something has to change!”

The cases are filed in Howell County court, as that is where the incidents are alleged to have taken place. The abuse was reported through an anonymous hotline call. 

All of the women charged were mandated reporters at the time of the incidents.

First indictments

The first indictment filed in May 2022 detailed multiple instances of abuse that occurred in March of that year against a 13-year-old autistic child, a peer of Moss’s child at the school. 

The following teachers were criminally indicted with child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child in October 2022: Barbara Baker of West Plains, Barbara Stark of Winona, Cheryl Silva, Karen Gore of Mountain View, Teresia Huddleston of Birch Tree and Vernetta Burgess of West Plains. 

According to the probable cause statements, Burgess and Baker had observed the abuse of the 13-year old non-verbal boy and had not reported it. Court documents say the abuse of the child was caught on-camera multiple times inside the state-run school for disabled students. 

The allegations state that Stark struck the child hard enough to knock him out of his seat and, in another incident, hit the child’s head against a nearby wall. 

Huddleston reportedly pinned the child down and kicked him in a separate incident. Gore reportedly assaulted the boy six times, abuse that included forcefully pinning the child’s head and chest against a desk, pulling his hair multiple times while saying “Yeah? That hurts a little, doesn’t it?”

The family of the victim in that case has filed a civil suit against Ozark Horizon’s former employees, supervisors, the school itself, the state Board of Education, the Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as defendants. Moss said that he is currently in the process of also filing a civil case.

Moss said that while his son was not the named victim in the first indictment, all of the teachers who were charged in that case have been involved with his son at some point during his schooling. 

Second indictments

A second grand jury incident filed against Ozark Horizon Special Education Teacher Christy Rinear, involves Moss’s child. That teacher is also now charged with abuse/neglect of a child and endangering the welfare of the boy. The specific actions laid out in the indictment occurred on Oct. 14, 2022, the report says.

According to the probable cause statement, an aide witnessed Rinear grab the boy by the arms and slam him against the wall, causing the child to hit his head. The child then slumped to the ground and started making noises as if he was in pain. 

The aide promptly reported the incident to the building administrator and the Missouri Child Abuse and Neglect hotline. A student in the classroom corroborated the story, the document says. Another aide found bruises on the child’s arm and reported them to the administrator as well.

Rinear is scheduled to be arraigned March 13 in Howell County court.