A retired Rowan-Salisbury School System teacher has been cleared of a charge that she struck a student in 2007.

The assault charge against Anne Musselman has been dismissed. All records of that charge and subsequent court actions have been expunged from law enforcement and court files, meaning those records no longer exist.

Musselman worked at Shive Elementary School in December 2007 when she was accused of hitting a 9-year-old student in the back of the head with her open hand because the student was talking during class. According to Rowan County Sheriff's Office reports at the time, the student later told a teacher assistant about the alleged incident.

Musselman was charged with misdemeanor assault on a child younger than 12. But her attorney, Jacob Sussman, of Charlotte, said the case never went to trial.

"The charges were dismissed," by the Rowan County District Attorney's Office, he said. "She did return to teaching, but has since retired."

A court order filed in March directs that all records of the case erased and that Musselman be returned, in the eyes of the law, to the status she held before the arrest in 2007. The records have been removed from the Rowan County court system.