A mother is suing the Clark County School District, accusing a Las Vegas elementary school special education teacher of abusing her non-verbal pre-kindergarten son last school year.
The complaint, filed Tuesday by Aryana Togafau on behalf of her son, identified in court filings as P.W., requests a jury trial to resolve claims of battery and negligence alleged against the district and Hickey Elementary School teacher Michelle Molloy, principal Kim Barra and assistant principal Michael Blume.
Togafau’s lawsuit alleges that Molloy physically, emotionally and verbally abused Togafau’s son and other disabled students at Hickey Elementary between October 2025 and March 2026 while the district, Barra and Blume failed to report Molloy or intervene despite being aware of her suspected child abuse.
In an email Wednesday, Molloy said she was not aware of the lawsuit against her.
“Somebody accused me of doing those things back in March and I’ve gone through all the proper channels and after investigations, I had been released of any wrongdoing,” Molloy said. “I honestly don’t know anything about this.”
Barra, Blume and the school district all did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Anh Phoong, an attorney representing Togafau, said in an emailed statement that she believes lawsuits like the one filed by Togafau show a need for cameras in special education classrooms, adding that her firm intends to revive legislation to achieve that. She called the issue “bigger than one lawsuit and one child.”
“These are some of our most vulnerable kids,” Phoong said. “They deserve better, and we need real changes in place to protect them.”
Lawsuit: Teacher flicked boy, dragged students
Teacher assistants in Molloy’s pre-K classroom reported seeing Molloy flick Togafau’s autistic son on his head when he wasn’t listening, yell at the boy and other students for minor issues and drag students around her classroom, the complaint alleged.
The lawsuit claimed Molloy made inappropriate comments to her pre-K class of special needs students such as “let’s put a restraint jacket on him!” and “you’re going to be the reason I die!”
The district, Barra and Blume were aware of allegations of abuse against Molloy, but they failed to report her to law enforcement until early March 2026 when Blume notified police of Molloy’s suspected abuse, according to the complaint.
Teacher assistants told investigators with the Clark County School District Police Department that Molloy routinely abused P.W. and other disabled students by “flicking, grabbing, pulling, slapping, squeezing, and jerking students by their hands and arms, physically forcing students bodies down into chairs while screaming in their face, flicking students in the head and screaming inappropriate things at students to make them cry,” according to the lawsuit.
Molloy’s alleged abuse to P.W. caused the boy to act aggressively toward peers, resist going to school and cry when Molloy would bring him to her classroom, the complaint alleges.
Nevada Department of Education records show the district employed Molloy in 2016, Barra in 2013 and Blume in 2004.
Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.
