Corsicana educator recovering at home after classroom attack

CORSICANA – A Navarro County educator is recovering at home after being injured by a student during a classroom incident last week.

Collins Intermediate School Assistant Principal Candra Rogers was hospitalized after the incident but has since been discharged. She is now recuperating at home. The district described the event as a "classroom disruption" involving fewer than 10 students and has not disclosed why Rogers was in the classroom. She was airlifted to a Dallas-area hospital for treatment.

"She just continues to ask for your prayers for her complete healing and continue to pray for our students and our staff at Collins and, of course, the entire district," said a board member at Monday night's school board meeting.

However, one parent also had a message for the board.

"We need to protect our teachers," Collins Intermediate School parent Terry Garner said. "They're rare and they're hard to come by. We're not protecting our teachers – we're not protecting our students and we're definitely not notifying parents."

Rena Honea, president of Alliance AFT, a Dallas-based teachers union, said various factors could trigger a student to "cause an outrage or an outburst."

Honea said incidents like this seem to happen more in smaller districts that struggle with staffing.

"Everyone has their own opinion, but until they walked in the shoes of an educator, until they dealt with the classroom setting, they are only guessing at what's going on," Honea said.

Rogers' husband is the head football coach for Corsicana High School. District officials say they are withholding further details about the attack due to the ongoing investigation. However, they confirmed that the student accused of the violence has been detained and charges are pending.

The district said they plan on holding a "Jeans Day" fundraiser on Friday, where all proceeds will go to the Rogers family. The district is also collecting gift cards to give to the family.