Texas resident Candra Rogers spoke out for the first time as she recovers from an injury that caused permanent damage in one of her eyes.
On Aug. 15, Rogers, who serves as assistant principal at Collins Intermediate School, was attacked while trying to calm down a student, who allegedly threw desks and a wire hanger that knocked her eyeball out of its socket, the Corsicana Daily Sun reported. Earlier this week, Rogers read a statement she drafted inside the board room of the Corsicana Independent School District.
“Good morning. I want to thank you all for being here. Thank you to Corsicana ISD for allowing me to utilize this space to share with you today. The statements I will make today do not belong to Corsicana ISD; they are my own,” Rogers’ letter began, per a transcript obtained by the Corsicana Daily Sun . “First, thank you all from the depths of my heart for all of your prayers. They have given me and my family strength during these very difficult and trying times. Thank you for the meals, the cards, the ways you’ve assisted us financially, and everything else you have done. I am so, so grateful. I will be reading a short statement, but I will not be taking any questions.”
She continued, “On Thursday, August 15th, during lunch, I heard our behavioral teacher call on the radio to administrators for assistance. When I arrived, the teacher and students were outside the classroom. One student was holding his head, having been assaulted by the student remaining in the classroom. I entered, where the student was still irate, and found the room ransacked with overturned furniture. I knew I had to be as calm as possible, and I spoke lowly and slowly so as not to enrage him any further.”
Rogers also detailed how she managed to block the chair thrown at another assistant principal but was unable to stop the wooden hanger the student threw toward her.
“The hanger hit me in my right eye and knocked it out of the socket,” she said. “I grabbed my face while blood was pouring out of my head and stumbled out the classroom door.”
She was treated on-site before being airlifted to Parkland Memorial Hospital for emergency eye surgery. Despite undergoing emergency surgery, Rogers shared that the doctors “determined I had been blinded and currently believe that damage to be permanent.”
Rogers opened up about how the aftermath has affected those closest to her.
“This tragedy affected not just my husband, my children and grandchild, my family, and my friends, but it has also negatively affected my school, my district, and my community,” she said. “Because of the numerous districts in which my husband and I have worked and the thousands of students I have taught, the impact of my injury is far-reaching.”
Rogers then shifted her attention to Republican Governor Greg Abbott .
“For years, our schools have suffered unfunded mandates, which have included pay raises. Our basic allotment which funds our day-to-day expenses have not been increased since 2019, even though we have had rising costs on absolutely everything, including new unfunded mandates. This is 2024,” she said. “Texas has the ninth largest economy in the world — not the country, the world. Texas has over a $32 billion budget surplus, yet we spend the 8th least in terms of allotment per student in the U.S. Regardless of what you believe this says about our priorities as a State, this is a choice, and choices have consequences.”
She concluded her statement with the following: “I have been in education for 30 years. I am a proud product of public schools. I believe in public school education. But what happened to me should never happen to another educator. Mr. Abbott, release the funds because you are also culpable for what happened to me.”
The Dallas News reported that The Navarro County District Attorney’s Office and the Juvenile Probation Department are now reviewing the matter.
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