North Texas assistant principal says student attack left her without vision in one eye

Corsicana assistant principal Candra Rogers publicly shared Tuesday about the “classroom disruption” on Aug. 15 that resulted in her being airlifted to a hospital.

Rogers, who is in her second semester with the school district, said she responded to a classroom at Collins Intermediate School during lunch after the behavioral teacher called for assistance. She found the teacher and all the students but one outside the room.

According to Rogers, one of the students in the hall had been “assaulted” by the student who was still inside the room and was holding his head.

The student was still “irate” when Rogers entered the classroom, she said. Furniture had been overturned, and it looked like the room had been ransacked.

Rogers spoke to the student in a low, calm voice, but he threw a chair at her, she said.

“I caught it in midair,” Rogers said. “He picked up another chair to throw at me, when another assistant principal entered the room. I used the first chair to block the second.”

According to Rogers, the student then picked up a third chair and threw it at the other assistant principal. Rogers used the first chair to block that chair as well. Then the student threw a wooden hanger at Rogers.

“I couldn’t stop it fast enough,” she said.

The hanger hit Rogers in the right eye, and knocked it out of the socket, she said.

Rogers said she stumbled out of the classroom, and someone called 911. She was airlifted to Parkland Medical Center in Dallas, where she underwent surgery and doctors reinserted her eye.

“However they determined I had been blinded and currently believe my damage is permanent,” Rogers said.

Rogers told reporters that she needs another surgery to repair her eyelid, and it may be necessary to remove the injured eye.

“I’m still believing God for a miracle for restoration of my sight,” she said.

Corsicana ISD officials said in a news release Monday that the student in question “has been restricted to a specific location and cannot be on campus.” The age of the student has not been released.

The incident has been referred to the Navarro County District Attorney’s Office and the Juvenile Probation Department, according to the release.

“CISD anticipates the DA’s office will take additional steps to address the student’s action through the juvenile court system,” the release states.

Rogers told reporters that what happened to her should never happen to another educator. She believes Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code, which deals with student discipline, “may need to be reevaluated” to “address the mental, social and emotional well-being of these students.”

“We care about students and their safety,” Rogers said. “But we must also care about the safety of our educational staff. Our safety is important, too. We should never have to fear being in a classroom with an aggressive student.”

Rogers also said that the state should do more to fund public schools. In spite of the Texas economy being within the top 10 in the world, the basic allotment given to schools hasn’t changed since 2019, she said.

“Regardless of what you believe this says about our priorities as a state, this is a choice,” Rogers said. “Choices have consequences.”

Rogers’ family has set up a GoFundMe to help with her medical expenses. GoFundMe organizer Sarah Rogers shared a social media post by Candra Rogers asking for prayers for herself, her family and “the child who caused this incident and his family.”

“She’s taught thousands of students and will say education is her ministry,” Sarah Rogers wrote. “If you ask her, she will say God placed her in this position to shine a light in the darkness and make a difference in this field.”

There isn’t a time set for Rogers to return to work, the district said.

North Texas assistant principal says student attack left her without vision in one eye (yahoo.com)