Avid readers of the Corridor Business Journal (CBJ) or frequent attendees of CBJ events may know that my wife, Aspen Lohman, is co-owner of the Corridor Media Group Inc., which publishes the CBJ and the Quad Cities Regional Business Journal (QCBJ).
Probably most don’t know that Aspen’s primary vocation has been teaching. This current school year would have been Aspen’s 29th teaching first grade at Coralville Central Elementary School in the Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD). Her mom was a teacher. She grew up wanting to be a teacher. She was put on this earth to teach kids, and she’s very good at it.
She was awarded the school district’s Shine Award in 2014, which “honors employees who go above and beyond for the students and schools in our community. Honorees positively influence, inspire, and leave a lasting impact in the work that they do every day, helping to fulfill the overall District mission.”
Coralville Central Principal Andy Gahan wrote this about Aspen in a May 19, 2022, email: “Aspen is one of our most beloved and experienced teachers at Coralville Central. She is well respected and looked at as a top leader that teachers and myself go to for advice and guidance.”
Unfortunately, Aspen’s teaching career abruptly stopped in February 2025. She took leave after an attempted assault at the school by a former student. She had previously been assaulted by this same student twice in December 2024; one involved a headlock during her planning time and one involved strangulation while teaching in front of her first grade class.
The school suspended the student for one day after the strangulation incident and subsequently implemented a “safety plan” where Aspen had to keep her classroom door locked during the school day to keep out this student, who was stalking her and fixated on hurting her.
The plan worked until an unplanned fire drill in February, during which all students and staff had to quickly relocate to the playground. This same former student saw Aspen from across the playground, broke free from his teacher and attempted to attack her again. Thankfully, she was able to run back into the school before another frightful assault. This attempted attack was caught on video.
Aspen has been traumatized by these attacks, the untold number of times this student tried to get into her locked classroom, the chronically hostile work environment and the lack of support and empathy from the school district.
She is getting therapy, but she is not the same person. She has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and acute panic attacks. Her bubbly optimism and ever-present smile have been replaced with tears, depression and extreme anxiety. She no longer likes to go to public places for fear of being attacked again by this student. She is on medication to treat these disorders, but the intrusive thoughts and nightmares continue.
Aspen’s future as a teacher is now in doubt as she struggles with the reality that she cannot feel safe in the classroom.
Unfortunately, what happened to Aspen is not unusual or uncommon. Her teacher and paraeducator colleagues have been bitten, kicked, punched and strangled on a too-frequent basis.
The ICCSD would not provide me with the number of attacks or assaults against teachers, claiming they are protected personnel records under Iowa Code Chapter 22.
ICCSD did provide student behavior statistics or office discipline referrals (ODRs) for the 2023-2024 school year and they are troubling. ODRs are reported by teachers documenting aggressive, violent or disruptive student behaviors. The subcategories range from abusive language to physical aggression with bodily injury to possession of weapons, among others.
There were 13,375 ODRs in the 2023-2024 school year, up more than 82% since 2021-2022. The 2023-2024 ODR statistics included 316 incidents of physical aggression with injury, 11 physical aggression with serious bodily injury, and 3,514 physical aggression without injury. These statistics may or may not include assaults on teachers.
The full report can be found online at https://www.iowacityschools.org/our-district/annual-reports-notice.
The district proudly reported that zero student expulsions have occurred over the past five school years.
What that means is students have been getting more violent and aggressive, but remain in the classroom putting students and teachers at risk.
In no other industry would this type of violence be acceptable.
In the wake of the recent Minneapolis shooting, ICCSD Superintendent Matt Degner sent an email saying, “Please know that the safety of our students and staff is, and always will be, our highest priority.” I do not doubt Mr. Degner’s sincerity, but actions speak louder than words.
And the actions from the ICCSD in combating school violence have been abysmal, because it continues to be a festering issue. In 2019 the school district completed a settlement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that found the school district failed to protect teachers, paraeducators and substitutes at Penn Elementary from violent student outbursts. OSHA found the work conditions at Penn Elementary were in violation of state law and fined it $6,681, an amount which was later reduced to $1,500, according to an Iowa City Press-Citizen news report.
The assaults continue to happen with no recourse or support from the school administration or the school board.
Brady Shutt, the president of the Iowa City Education Association, the local branch of the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA), and school administrators have held some perfunctory meetings with teachers since Aspen’s assaults, but nothing has been implemented to keep teachers safe, and here we are with another new school year.
The lack of support from the ISEA has been particularly galling. Aspen has been a full dues-paying member throughout her career, but the union hasn’t helped with filing a grievance or legal fees or any type of support whatsoever.
Whose responsibility is it to protect teachers?
It seems that Mr. Degner and Mr. Gahan are violating the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners (IBOEE) Code of Conduct and Ethics, Standard VI which requires them to protect the safety of students and staff.
Additionally, Iowa state law (Iowa Code § 279.58) clearly states that the instructional staff of Iowa’s public schools have the right to be safe and secure at school.
But they simply aren’t. Their rights are being violated.
Mr. Degner and the school district were asked to respond to Aspen’s situation and this column, but chose not to comment.
The Iowa Legislature needs to implement new protections for teachers (besides just locking doors) and make sure that the data and tracking of these troubling assaults against teachers is consistent, shared publicly and not tolerated. OSHA needs to conduct another investigation into these troubling acts of workplace violence throughout the ICCSD. The ISEA needs to do better in protecting and supporting its members, and the ICCSD and school board needs to make the health and safety of its employees a real priority.
One of Aspen’s former colleagues left the teaching profession and wrote the following excerpted farewell email at the end of the last school year:
“I’ve come to recognize that my mental health and physical well-being and that of my family must come first. While I have always strived to give my best, I no longer feel my contributions are aligned with the support and recognition I need in order to thrive. I have dedicated the past 5 years to the welfare and success of my students. I will always wish them the best and success, however I feel my advocacy no longer makes a difference nor aligns with the current environment.”
Aspen hopes that the awareness of her troubling situation will embolden other teachers to share their stories and fully report the in-school violence, and motivate parents and community stakeholders to demand that the school district, the school board and the state legislature make schools safer for not only students, but also teachers.
John Lohman is the Chief Operating Officer and President of the Corridor Media Group.
