Texas educator breaks wrist dodging chair thrown by ‘violent’ student in same school principal lost eye in attack
A Texas educator broke her wrist diving out of the way of a chair thrown at her by a “violent” student in the latest attack resulting in an injured staff member at a local middle school.
Collins Intermediate School paraprofessional Carol Tidwell was inside the 5th- and 6th-grade classroom dedicated for students with behavioral challenges on Jan. 21, when the class was interrupted.
Tidwell, 57, recalled seeing the chair thrown as she called it out to the room.
“When I looked up, all I could see was a chair coming,” she told KDFW. “So I told the teacher, ‘Hey! We have a chair flying!
Tidwell managed to dodge the projectile but tripped and fell backwards landing on the floor.
An on-campus nurse examined the educator before her husband brought her to a local hospital.
X-rays confirmed she broke her wrist, the outlet reported.
Corsicana Independent School District, located 55 miles south of Dallas, confirmed the incident took place in a “small classroom” and video footage captured Tidwell’s injury when she fell attempting to avoid the chair.
The school wasn’t put on lockdown because the “situation was resolved and learning resumed quickly.”
Tidwell has worked in the school district for less than a year and was placed in Collins Intermediate at the beginning of the school year.
The paraprofessional claimed the unidentified student had been violent in the past and called for action from the school district.
“People need to know,” she said. “These kids need to be helped.”
“I don’t get paid to get messed up like this,” said added.
Tidwell was told she would be given worker’s compensation and the district would handle the problem.
“The problem’s been there since I’ve been there and they ain’t done nothing yet,” she told KWTX.
Tidwell called for action from the school and district to help the special needs students and make the designated classrooms safer for the employees.
The violent attack has left Tidwell not wanting to return to the school, and she believes she is done working in the school district.
The Jan. 21 incident was the latest attack inside the school that resulted in an injured staff member.
Casandra Rogers, an assistant principal at the school was left blind on Aug. 15 after an “aggressive” student inside a behavioral class launched a clothes hanger at her face.
Rogers, now 56, responded to a teacher asking for help because two of the 6th graders got into a physical altercation.
One of the students, a sixth-grade boy, was still in the classroom when Rogers showed up and began throwing several chairs at the administrator.
Rogers dodged the chairs but her right eye got pierced by the hangar, ripping it out of the socket.
She was airlifted to a hospital where she underwent surgery to get the eye back in the socket but was left blind from the attack.
On Jan. 14, Rogers had her right eye surgically removed, KWTX reported.
Despite the brutal injury, Rogers says she forgave the student.
“I’ve forgiven him. I had to,” she said. “I am angry with the student. I am angry with the student’s parents. I am angry with our state system because no educator should go to work and end up being airlifted to a hospital,” she told the outlet.