St. Paul Teacher Reportedly Assaulted Says District Doesn't Want Her Back

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- A substitute teacher who was reportedly assaulted by a St. Paul seventh grader last week says she's not being welcomed back to the St. Paul School District.

Candice Egan says she was shoved repeatedly by the student last Thursday at Creative Arts High School after she confiscated the student's cell phone. Egan says she immediately notified school officials, and her employer, Teachers On Call, a substitute teacher placement firm.

A police report was filed, at which point Egan was contacted by and did interviews with media outlets, including WCCO Radio.

Egan says she believes it's because of her speaking to the media that St. Paul Schools told her employer to no longer place her in the district.

"St. Paul Schools is telling Teachers On Call that I didn't involve school staff or tell anyone what happened," Egan told WCCO Radio Thursday. "That's a lie. I don't know who's telling it, but someone is lying."

In a statement, a St. Paul Public School District spokesman says it's their practice not to ask substitutes back to work during an ongoing police investigation, and that of the many reasons subs may not be asked back, talking to the press is not one of those reasons.

Egan says she doesn't buy that explanation.

"I'm being accused.  I'm being blamed.  And all I did was try to enforce school rules, try to teach a lesson, try to handle the classroom the best way that I could," Egan said.

Egan says she's subbed exclusively in the St. Paul District for the last three years and says she's developed good relationships with students and staff.  She says that makes this all the more disappointing.