SAN ANTONIO – Students are punching, stabbing and even breaking their teacher’s bones, according to reports reviewed by KSAT Investigates.
It’s a dangerous issue educators believe is contributing to the teacher shortage in Texas.
Last year, Northside ISD instructional aide Alfred Jimenez died after an incident with a student.
“It’s a shock for many teachers to be assaulted,“ said Tom Cummins, the president of the Bexar County Federation of Teachers. ”That’s not something that’s been in their past.”
Cummins has heard it all. He was a special education teacher and currently serves as the president of the Bexar Federation of Teachers.
“Teachers need support, both physically because some of them are very physically damaged and then just going through an assault, the result is quite often emotional,” he explained.
The emotions and frustration are what Chris Dombkowsi feels to this day. KSAT Investigates spoke with the Steele High School teacher in November 2024.
“I, at times, tend to lose track of where I’m speaking,” he said.
Dombkowsi was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, which he said happened after an incident on campus.
“I don’t blame the student,” he said. “I think that it’s a bad situation and the students are in the wrong environment.”
KSAT Investigates found his injury is one of more than 4,000 reported by Bexar County educators in the last two school years.
“That’s a very low figure,“ said Cummins. ”In truth, there are many, many, many teachers who do not report their injuries."
KSAT Investigates found several local districts don’t keep that data readily available in the long term.
Northside ISD provided records of injuries going back to the 2014-2015 school year.
San Antonio ISD said eight years' worth of data is not in a readily accessible form, adding that the district is not required to create a new record to provide to us.
Spokespeople for Harlandale ISD and Comal ISD said staff would have to spend hours going through paper reports to compile that data.
Alamo Heights ISD said with all the work to get that data, they’d charge us $576.
“What does that tell you?” asked reporter Daniela Ibarra.
“They’re not aware of the increase of violence and acting out by students that is occurring, and consequently, they are either not investigating it like they should be or they are indifferent to the results,” said Cummins.
In an email, the Texas Education Agency said it doesn’t track the number of educators who are hurt or their injuries. However, it does report the number of students disciplined for injured teachers.
“What do you think the solution is?” asked Ibarra.
“Well, first, you have to have more money,” said Cummins. “You can’t serve all of the students to the point where they need to be served to receive a good education, to get all the support services they need. Unless you have the money.”
Over the next year, KSAT Investigates is committing to telling stories about teacher safety and its impact on students.
If you’ve experienced violence in the classroom, reach out to us at dibarra@ksat.com.
Daniela is an IRE 2025 Chauncey Bailey Investigative Reporting Fellow. This story is part of her year-long project focusing on teacher injuries by students.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
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