57-Year-Old Texas Teacher’s Aide Breaks Wrist in Attack at School Where Principal Lost Eye in Classroom Fight

A Texas teacher’s aide is calling for action from her school district after she suffered a broken wrist while dodging a chair thrown by a student in a special education classroom. The incident at Collins Intermediate School in Corsicana comes just months after an assistant principal at the same school lost an eye in a separate attack, raising concerns about staff safety.

Carol Tidwell, 57, was working in a 5th and 6th-grade special education class on January 21 when an agitated student hurled a chair at her. “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 fell while trying to avoid the chair, fracturing her wrist in the process.

“The chair hit the floor, and it came rolling at me, and I went a little bit faster, I tripped, broke my left arm, my wrist,” she recalled to KWTX. After the incident, Tidwell’s husband drove her to the hospital, where X-rays confirmed the injury. The Corsicana Independent School District released a statement acknowledging the incident, stating, “In a small classroom, a student attempted to throw a chair in the direction of a paraprofessional, who fell attempting to avoid the chair as it slid across the floor.

According to video footage, the injury occurred during the fall.” Tidwell, who has worked in the district for less than a year, is urging the school and district to address the challenges of managing special needs students and to improve safety for staff. “People need to know, these kids need to be helped. I don’t get paid to get messed up like this,” she said.

“I just want them to do what’s right, take care of the problem. I understand you can’t do anything with this child… special needs, I get it, but at least try and make it safer for us, who are trying to help them.” While Tidwell was assured she would receive workers’ compensation and that the district would address the issue, she remains skeptical.

“But the problem has been there since I have been there, so we’ll see,” she said. This incident follows a shocking attack last year at the same school, where assistant principal Casandra Rogers, 56, lost her vision after a student threw a clothes hanger at her face. On August 15, Rogers was responding to a teacher’s call for help during a fight between two 6th graders when an aggressive student threw multiple chairs at her.

Although she dodged the chairs, the hanger struck her right eye, tearing it from its socket. Rogers was airlifted to a hospital for emergency surgery but was left permanently blind. Earlier this month, she underwent surgery to remove her right eye.

Despite the life-altering injury, Rogers says she has forgiven the student responsible. “I’ve forgiven him. I had to. 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 KWTX.

These incidents have sparked calls for improved safety measures and support for educators working with special needs students. As Tidwell and Rogers recover, the Corsicana Independent School District faces mounting pressure to ensure the safety of its staff while addressing the complex needs of its students.