Former Woodland teachers detail classroom attack and alleged firing, point to "broken" public education system
WOODLAND -- In this three-part investigative series, CBS Sacramento unpacks allegations that the Woodland Joint Unified School District (WJUSD) is failing its students in special education -- problems at the local level that are indicative of a larger, nationwide crisis in education.
In part one, an area special education advocate and district parent detail why they feel the federal education rights of students are being violated. We also explain the response from WJUSD leaders and the California Department of Education.
This second story in the series focuses on accounts of two former WJUSD teachers who share their own classroom experiences. In addition, we break down why federal funding has never come to fruition to fully support special education nationwide as lawmakers in Congress seek a nationwide fix -- now 50 years after the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Teachers talk lessons learned
Under the condition of anonymity, two teachers came forward to CBS13 to share their classroom accounts after leaving their jobs at WJUSD.
They both say their stories shed light on why an underfunded public education system and poor local district management are not just hurting students — they're hurting educators equally.
CBS13 agreed to identify them in this story only as Teacher 1 and Teacher 2 -- both still teach at other area school districts and fear retaliation for speaking out.
Teacher 1 served as a certificated substitute teacher at Gibson Elementary School in the 2023-2024 school year in a special education classroom.
She said tension started to build one day in the classroom among a few students who had grown frustrated and unruly. The educators were trying to de-escalate the situation.
Teacher 1 said that at that time, she was attacked by students in this special education classroom, and it's something she later learned had happened before.
"I was assaulted by two different students within about a 15-minute period. No one gave me any warning that people had been hurt in that class," Teacher 1 said.
Teacher 1 noted that during the ordeal, she and the para-educators in the classroom had called for assistance for several minutes leading up to the attack, and no one came.
"I'm a second-degree black belt, and I didn't even see it coming. I think he cocked [his hand] and I couldn't see it based on where I was. All the sudden, I just fly back. He had done a direct palm strike to the bridge of my nose," Teacher 1 said. "From what I learned later on, I was the second person who got a concussion that year from the same student doing the same palm strike. I really just don't want anyone else to get hurt."
She says a second student had yanked her hair, kicked and punched her.
At the emergency room, Teacher 1 says she learned she had a concussion and a neck sprain.
"The whole process of how to report an injury was not followed at all," Teacher 1 said. "And I was concussed, so it's hard to blame me. I'm not of right mind, but all the adults in that scenario, none of them did what the district says you should be doing."
She ended up filling out a digital form through the district describing the incident and feels that if she had not been persistent in following up with staff that nothing would have been done at all.
In a meeting with district leaders and human resources staff that she described as "meaningless" and "inauthentic," Teacher 1 said she made it clear that she blamed the district for what happened, not the students with special needs.
"You should have told me that two kids are violent in that class and I would have known to distance myself," Teacher 1 said. "And they would not admit that that was really an issue. I'm not going to work in Woodland now. My experience was so horrible, I can't see myself ever working in the district I live in, which is unfortunate. I'm not looking to sue, to make problems. But what I am worried about is people are getting hurt and you don't seem to have the systems and protocols in place to make sure they are not hurt."
Teacher 1 and Teacher 2 had very different experiences at different schools, but both feel these stories highlight a bigger problem districtwide and in education at large.
"As a teacher, you sometimes have to balance, is this worth losing my job?" Teacher 2 said. "When you advocate for your students, that can sometimes not work out well for you."
Teacher 2 told CBS13 that she was in her first year teaching a special education preschool class at a WJUSD school and at the time, had ten years of teaching experience.
"After this job with Woodland Joint Unified, did you consider quitting teaching entirely?" I asked.
"I absolutely did, but my heart is really in the service," Teacher 2 said.
Teacher 2 said it became clear early on that one of her students with a mobility issue needed additional one-on-one support.
A parent of a child with unique learning needs herself, Teacher 2 said that she took data backing up the fact that this child would benefit from additional classroom supports to the district. When it came time for that student's IEP, or individualized education program, meeting, Teacher 2 said that she once again advocated for additional support for this student.
She alleges district leadership insinuated that the problem stemmed from her own mismanagement of her classroom. After, she claims she was fired in retaliation.
"They did approve the one-on-one for the student, so for me, that was a win. However, I was pink-slipped and asked not to come back and was told I wasn't a good cultural fit," Teacher 2 said. "I cried, if I'm going to be honest. It was really sad because I really liked the students and the staff that I worked with. It's unfortunate that our system is set up where if you have a teacher willing to advocate for their student, they are ostracized and isolated, especially in districts that are really struggling."
A WJUSD spokesperson declined to comment on the allegation that Teacher 2 was fired in retaliation or Teacher 1's allegations that the district did not do enough to keep her safe. The district's full response to CBS13 can be reviewed in part 1 of this series.
"Broken" system bigger than Woodland
Those speaking out hope to highlight one thing -- our schools need help, and this issue is bigger than WJUSD.
"This is a local issue, but it stems from a national issue," said Dave Gaines, CEO of the nonprofit Sacramento Autistic Spectrum and Special Needs Alliance (SASSNA).
SASSNA is an advocacy group that helps area families and their children with special needs navigate schooling and social services, even attending their IEP meetings to help negotiate needed supports.
"The bottom line is that the system of education for students with disabilities in public schools across the country is broken. It comes from primarily two things. Lack of funding, significant lack of funding for schools. This has been going on for decades. Also, staffing shortages," Gaines said. "You either lower the standards to go down to what the resources are, or you have to raise the resources to meet the standards."
Trying to do just that is a group of bipartisan lawmakers in Congress, including Sen. Adam Schiff and Sen. Alex Padilla of California, as announced in early April.
"We are really derelict in what we committed to doing, and what that means is it puts a lot of pressure on the school districts to provide important, necessary services," Sen. Schiff said in a video posted to social media.
The group of lawmakers is re-introducing legislation to fully fund special education, now 50 years after the passage of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1975 -- the new bill is called the IDEA Full Funding Act.
Under the original IDEA Act, the federal government committed to pay 40% of the per-student price for special education. Current funding sits at less than 12%.
This school year, lawmakers in Congress say that shortfall is more than $38 billion nationwide.
"IDEA, it's never been fully funded, which has created this situation. Schools are trying and doing their best. Unfortunately, their best isn't meeting the needs of students," Teacher 2 said.
The IDEA Full Funding Act would mandate regular increases in special education spending.
What is unclear is if Congress can finally pass it, in a Trump administration climate laser-focused on cutting costs and even closing the federal Department of Education.
"President Trump's cruel dismantling of the Department of Education (DOE) is putting millions of students with disabilities at risk of losing essential IDEA funding," Sen. Padilla said.
The Trump administration says that when it comes to education in general, per-student spending nationwide has increased more than 245% since the 1970s without much education progress to show for it. It's why President Trump, in an executive order in March, said, "Ultimately, the Department of Education's main functions can, and should, be returned to the States."
CBS13 reached out to the White House and the DOE for comment on those cuts and how the administration plans to still make sure the most vulnerable students have the supports they need. After all, California data shows it can be three times as expensive to educate one child in special education.
The DOE directed CBS13 to comments made by Secretary Linda McMahon on CNN, where she stated, in part:
"What we need to do is to make sure that the funding has a clear path, the funding continues. But that the states are allowed to spend the money where they need to spend it. To hire teachers, increase their salaries, to make sure our students with special needs are taken care of."
Gaines said that the state of special education nationwide is at its boiling point -- and a fix has to be found to resolve staffing and funding deficits decades in the making.
"This is about the future, the well-being and, in some cases, the lives of children with disabilities," Gaines said.
The final story in this series aired on Wednesday and dove into a civil lawsuit filed against WJUSD in which one parent alleges the district did not do enough to protect her daughter with special needs, who was sexually assaulted at Pioneer High School in a campus restroom by another student.
You can view the full, televised three-part investigation below.
