It takes a special person to work with children. Kids are often strong-willed and easily distracted, and they typically need a lot of guidance. The combination can be trying. An educator has to walk the line of keeping children safe, imparting wisdom, and making sure that any punishments they enact are fair, effective, and don’t do further damage.
Sadly, a fifth and sixth grade teacher in Minnesota, failed on all these fronts when he intentionally stepped on several students to punish them for not taking a safety drill seriously.
The teacher issued a warning before he stepped on them.
Jason Rogers, a 47-year-old teacher at Underwood School in Otter Tail County, admitted to stepping on three students during a lockdown drill on February 10, 2025, the Kansas City Star reported. In the probable cause statement, Rogers claimed the students weren’t taking the drill seriously. Instead of sitting, they were lying on their stomachs. Court documents state he told them “he could step on them.” And he did.
One student was in severe pain afterward.
Rogers, who weighs 350 pounds, intentionally placed both of his feet on the back of one of his sixth graders for about 10 seconds, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported. The criminal complaint claimed the boy started crying under Rogers’ weight because his entire back hurt. The child didn’t know Rogers planned to step on him because he had not heard his earlier comments. The boy’s mother said her son “was walking around like an 80-year-old from the pain in his back,” according to the Kansas City Star.
The next day, detectives came to investigate. Rogers told them he placed one foot on the lower back of his student and removed it when he started to cry. That story conflicted with the one another student shared with authorities. That child claimed Rogers used both feet.
When confronted with that version, the teacher said “he might have stepped on [the student] with both feet,” according to the Star Tribune. Rogers, who the school website lists as a science teacher, wrestling, and football coach, also admitted to stepping on two other students.
Rogers now faces charges.
As a result of his misguided punishment, the Underwood School District placed Rogers on administrative leave. Superintendent Jeff Wilson told Fox 9 that the leave is currently paid. The Otter Tail County District Court charged Rogers with one gross misdemeanor count of malicious punishment of a child. His court hearing is scheduled for April 8.
