Iowa City, IA: Teachers injured by elem school SPED students; more cases reported this year

Nov 10, 2025, Iowa City Press Citizen: Iowa City schools using student data, trends to reduce physical aggression with teachers 

https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/education/2025/11/10/iowa-city-schools-to-improve-teacher-safety-adress-student-aggresion/87073073007/#  

A month after several community members attended an Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) board meeting to advocate for safer conditions for teachers, the district is deploying methods to monitor trends and provide more support.

The work session arrived after dozens of community members voiced support for former ICCSD teacher Aspen Lohman at the Tuesday, Sept. 28 school board meeting. Lohman has been on leave from the district after alleged student assaults that left her with acute panic attacks, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

An Iowa City district team is reviewing a wide range of data to identify patterns and solutions related to student physical aggression, special education, and academic performance. The work session on Oct. 28 was the first of five potential meetings the team will have in an attempt to improve safety.

Student aggression is a noticeable trend in Iowa City elementary schools

During the 2024-25 school year, there were 139 reported instances of students injuring staff members, according to data presented to the school board. Almost all injuries were caused by students with individualized education plans (IEPs), and the majority occurred at the elementary school level. Twenty-two injuries were reported at the secondary level.

Seventy-five percent of injured staff were in special education positions, including a special education paraeducator, a behavior interventionist, or a special education teacher.

Superintendent Matt Degner said the district is figuring out ways to better handle the youngest aggressors and do deter aggressions.

"By the time students get to our secondary schools, we are successful in determining a plan that works," said Degner. "The struggle with our earliest learners is we have the least amount of information on what is successful… we're in the process of learning…and we are assessing all parts of the continuum to make sure that we're trying to find success."

Ddistrict staff has reported more incidents so far this school year. To combat the aggression, building administrators and school nurses are "directly contacting the Human Resources team when a student injures a staff member," an accident report is filed and a behavior report is created for the student in Infinite Campus. The district is conducting additional training and information for administrators.

The Iowa City school distict is also analyzing data and trends, including office referrals by grade and building, suspensions, attendance, academic performance, special education data including behavior implementation plans and suspensions by IEP. The data also includes employee accident reports and physical aggression with and without injury. . . .