An assistant principal was left blind in one eye — and may lose it entirely — after an “aggressive” middle school student hurled a clothes hanger at her face.
Candra Rogers was responding to a report of students fighting in a classroom at Collins Intermediate School in Corsicana on Aug. 15 when the child threw several chairs at Rogers — which she dodged — and then a hanger, which pierced the principal’s eye, WFAA reported.
“The hanger hit me in my right eye and knocked it out of the socket,” Rogers told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday in her first remarks back at the school.
“I grabbed my face while blood was pouring out of my head and stumbled out of the classroom door,” the educator recalled.
The injury was so severe that paramedics who responded to the school decided Rogers needed to be airlifted to a hospital.
Rogers was left blind in the eye — and it’s likely permanent, she said. If it’s found to be untreatable, doctors will have to remove her eye.
“I am still believing God for a miracle for restoration of my sight,” Rogers said.
She also must undergo reconstructive surgery on her eyelid.
One student was taken into police custody after the alleged assault, school officials said in a press release on Monday. The incident was referred to the Navarro County District Attorney’s Office and the Juvenile Probation Department and the school expects charges to be filed.
The student has also been barred from stepping foot on campus, the district said.
Rogers joined the Corsicana district just last semester. Her husband, Eugene Rogers, began his first season as Corsicana High School’s football coach this year.
Officials did provide an estimate for when Rogers is expected to return to work.
The assistant principal on Tuesday said that the district and state need to do a better job of protecting educators.
“We should never have to fear being in a classroom with an aggressive student,” Rogers said.
“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,” she said.
She faulted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the state legislature’s refusal to increase public school funding despite a $32 billion budget surplus.
“It is important, to point out that the decision to continue funding Texas public schools at 2019 levels in 2024 is a choice,” Rogers said.
“The collateral damage of Governor Abbott’s choices include but are not limited to academic struggles, student discipline struggles, teacher retention challenges, stifling program advancements, loss of student enrichment programs, lessening of needed student support, erosion of parent and external stakeholder trust, decreased student engagement.”
