HOUSTON – Teachers and school staff in Houston area schools are facing a significant rise in student attacks. KPRC 2 dug into records from 25 Houston-area school districts and found a jump in aggression of more than eight percent during the 2023-2024 school year from the previous year. We’re talking about serious injuries like bruises, cuts, even broken bones. The injuries not only affecting teachers but everyone who plays a part in your child’s education.
“He said, ‘I’m going to f***** kill you,’” one Houston ISD middle-school teacher told us. “[He] physically assaulted me, jumped on my back and started punching me.”
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We’ll call this HISD teacher Joe. He was removed from the campus he taught at for more than five years because of the altercation. He says he wasn’t prepared for this kind of violence.
“I did what I thought was necessary to make myself safe as well as all the students around me. Everyone’s like, ‘Yeah, you’ll be fine. You just did what you’re supposed to do.’ And then the district came back and said, ‘No, you used excessive force. We’re going to terminate you,’” Joe added.
We asked Joe what he did to have the district tell him that. He said, “I put him on his back, and he bit me. So, I flipped him over onto his stomach and then just put my knee on top of his back to keep him from moving.”
Both Joe and the student’s family tried to press charges, but Harris County Prosecutors said there wasn’t enough evidence. HISD removed the student for 30-days, and Joe was sent to a different building while his appeal goes through.
What does the data show?
Texas Education Agency shows an 18 percent increase in reported incidents from 2022-2023 school year to 2023-2024.
Data from 22 local districts revealed during the past two school years, a total of 3,501 staff members were injured by students. This is an 8.2 percent jump year over year. The districts with employees reporting the most student-caused injuries were Cy-Fair ISD (549), Aldine ISD (502), and Fort Bend ISD (333).
For whatever reason Houston, Klein and Waller ISDs did not give us the information we requested.
While looking at Fort Bend ISD data, educator assaults trending down. We wanted to know what the district thought it was doing well to see the decrease, but the district stated they couldn’t respond at this time.
KPRC also reached out to HISD, Cy-Fair ISD, Aldine ISD and Spring Branch ISD to see what each of their district are doing to combat assaults on educators at the hands of teachers.
While we wait on some of the districts to respond, Cy-Fair ISD tells us:
“We continuously work to provide the safest possible environment for our students and staff by implementing proactive measures, including our “Bringing Out the Best” Character Education program, comprehensive student behavior intervention programs (PBIS), staff training in de-escalation techniques, and increased mental health support for our students. Our campus staff works closely with families to address student needs and the development of intervention and support plans. If an incident occurs, we will discipline to the fullest extent of the CFISD Student Code of Conduct and the law.”
Is there help for educators who are attacked by students?
Educators who are placed on leave while undergoing an assault claim can file for “assault leave,” which will provide educators with 100 percent of their salary while not losing accrued state or personal time off.
“Too many teachers are being injured and not being made aware that assault leave is available. If you have it documented properly, then there should be no reason why it’s not granted,” said Jackie Anderson, President of the Houston Federation of Teachers. “They shouldn’t have to feel like they’re coming into a battlefield. We come here to educate children, and that’s what we want to do.”
