Principal cleared of abuse claim

ST. LOUIS -- A suspended middle school principal will be back on the job Monday, after an investigation found he did not abuse a student last month.

Fanning Middle School principal Frank Muehl-heausler was suspended with pay May 22 after being accused of striking a sixth-grade boy after the student knocked off his eyeglasses.

A day later, a police spokesman said Muehl-heausler would not face criminal charges, saying the boy's black eye apparently was from another incident, that the student was "irate and not manageable," and that the principal was tying to restrain him.

Superintendent Cleveland Hammonds Jr. said that after reviewing the police report and hearing from the state Division of Family Services, "I determined that neither agency found Frank Muehlheausler violated the law or abused the student, other than defending himself and performing his duty as a principal."