ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — It was a shocking school fight caught on camera. Now, the teacher who says she was attacked by a student is talking to 5 On Your Side.
Normandy High School science teacher Sheryl Rogers has been on leave for nearly a month as she recovers from her injury and the trauma.
Rogers actually retired from teaching back in 2022. She said colleagues begged her to come back into the classroom due to a need for science teachers. She did -- only to find herself in a situation she'd never experienced in her entire career.
The video of a student and Rogers involved in a brawl outside a classroom surfaced last month.
"I was just thinking, the students that were standing around, nobody intervened to help me. Nobody helped me,” Rogers said while fighting tears. "She kept hitting me and when I fell to the floor, she just kicked me.
"I still have bruises on both of my legs. The scars on my hands have healed and I still have headaches,” she said.
Rogers said it all started when a student, who came to class but then left to cut class, eventually came back to retrieve her bookbag. "She was already angry and I just happened to be the target."
“I was shocked to see she was literally being assaulted,” Rogers’ significant other Gregory Stanton said.
When he got wind of what happened, he left work and has been by her side in the weeks following the situation.
"I've seen some changes. She's normally a bubbly, high energy person. (She’s) been kind of slow, which is to be expected, not as sharp far as if you talk long enough, sometimes she's searching for words,” he said.
Police have said they would seek criminal charges against the student through St. Louis County Juvenile Courts.
As Rogers fights to get past the trauma, the veteran teacher is still in a state of shock.
"I was trained to respect my elders and I don't think that's going on anymore… I'm not a mean person and you can just talk to me and I do what I can to help my students. I have breakfast bars for them and snacks for them… I never would've imagined anything like,” she said.
5 On Your Side is awaiting a response from Normandy Schools for an update on its investigation.
Loved ones of the teacher have set up a GoFundMe page to assist with her medical bills.