Texas Teacher Blames Poor School Funding For Losing Her Eye — ‘Our Safety Is Important’
She criticized government officials for not caring more about the safety of public school educators.
Andrey_Popov | Shutterstock Candra Rogers, an assistant principal at Collins Intermediate School in Corsicana, Texas was severely injured and left with irreparable damage after attempting to diffuse a violent situation with an unruly student.
Now she's calling for immediate action to be taken by the state's governor.
The Texas teacher blamed poor public school funding for why she lost her eye.
According to WFAA, a Dallas, Texas news station, Rogers explained that during lunch on August 15, a behavioral teacher called her for help about a student who was irate and causing a scene in the classroom. When Rogers arrived to assist, she discovered that a student had been assaulted by another student who was still in the room.
When she entered the classroom, the student was enraged, and the room was ransacked. "I knew I had to be as calm as possible, not to engage him," Rogers recalled.
Rogers admitted that the student threw multiple chairs at her and another assistant principal before he picked up a wooden hanger and launched it straight at Rogers, knocking her right eye out of its socket. After the incident, paramedics determined that Rogers needed immediate help, and she was airlifted to the hospital for treatment.
"The hanger hit me in my right eye and knocked it out of the socket," Rogers said. "I grabbed my face while blood was pouring out of my head and stumbled out of the classroom door."
After being taken to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Rogers had surgery on her eye. Doctors told her that she was permanently blinded after the damage. She will eventually need another surgery on the eyelid, and removing her eye is likely.
The student was taken into custody and school officials confirmed in a press release that the student "has been restricted to a specific location and cannot be on campus."
The incident was referred to the Navarro County District Attorney’s Office and the Juvenile Probation Department. The school expects charges to be filed.
Rogers described the incident as a failure of the Texas education system at large.
In a news conference discussing the tragic incident, Rogers called on Gov. Greg Abbott to update Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code, saying it needs to be revised to incorporate the well-being of students.
According to the Texas State Teachers Association, Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code gives teachers the authority to remove disruptive students from their classrooms but it should be used as a last resort.
"Our safety is important, too," Rogers said. "We should not fear being in the classroom with an aggressive student."
The risk of being injured by a student has become quite a concern among teachers across the country. According to an American Psychological Association survey, 14% of school employees have been victims of physical violence.
Teachers already struggle to feel safe in their classrooms due to the disturbingly high number of school shootings, and now their safety is further put into question by the students that they're trying to educate. Teachers should have the right to refuse to be in a classroom with a kid that makes them or others feel unsafe.
Instead of administrators ignoring their fears and calls for concern, they should do their best to ensure their teachers feel safe at their workplace. There's no other job on the planet where an employee would be forced to work in such unsafe conditions that could potentially put their life in danger, so why is it acceptable for teachers?
Rogers pointed out that the state legislature's refusal to increase the per-student allotment at public schools puts students and teachers at risk, even amidst a $32 billion budget surplus.
"Everyone's protection is paramount," Rogers insisted. "Overly aggressive students need services to meet their needs, but I do not believe the safety of other students and the educational staff should suffer."
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.