Parent sues Beaufort Co. schools for alleged physical, mental abuse of disabled daughter

Mary Dimitrov
Updated ·2 min read

A disabled student’s parent filed a lawsuit against the Beaufort County School District alleging a teacher’s assistant at Michael C. Riley Elementary School physically and mentally abused their daughter during the 2018-19 school year.

It is the second lawsuit filed against the district this year alleging Shandequa Moria Jenkins, 40, of Ridgeland, abused a disabled student in Bluffton schools.

The two incidents of alleged abuse took place at two separate schools, Michael C. Riley Elementary School and H.E. McCracken Middle School.

The first lawsuit was filed by the mother of a student at H.E. McCracken Middle School over alleged abuse in February. The Bluffton Police Department arrested Jenkins, and she was charged with third-degree misdemeanor assault and battery Feb. 2, court records show.

The latest lawsuit, filed April 3, claims Jenkins left visible bruising and markings on a second student at Michael C. Riley Elementary.

Jenkins is no longer a district employee as of Feb. 6, according to spokesperson Candace Bruder.

The parents are named in both lawsuits, but The Island Packet is not publishing their names to protect the identity of the children.

The latest lawsuit alleges the student’s injuries were due to the school system’s negligence in:

  • Hiring and retaining Jenkins who was not fit to care for children.

  • Failing to properly train Jenkins.

  • Failing to properly monitor activities in special needs classrooms to ensure safe treatment of students.

  • Failing to supervise employees adequately, including Jenkins.

  • Failing to implement special programs and services in an effort to mitigate lasting physical and emotional harm to the student.

  • Failing to prepare and implement a proper Individualized Education Program prior to and following physical abuse upon the student.

The teacher’s assistant’s alleged actions described in the second lawsuit match the allegations the first lawsuit almost exactly.

“I can’t comment as to why the second victim’s family came forward now. But we should be glad they did,” said Robert Metro at Bauer & Metro, the law firm representing both families, in a statement.

The Beaufort County School District does not comment on pending litigation, Bruder said.

Jenkins’ attorney for the criminal charges, John Albert Meyer, would not comment when the charges initially were filed.

“It’s troubling that there was an incident several years ago, yet the alleged abuser remained employed,” Metro said in the statement about the 2018-19 accusations. “We intend to seek answers.”

The plaintiff is seeking actual, but not punitive, damages.

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette do not typically name those charged with misdemeanors but chose to do in this case because of the lawsuit involving Jenkins’ charges.