The wife of a Texas teacher who died after being pushed to the ground by a hulking student this month said administrators had told her he was injured after falling down.
“They lied to me,” she told The Post Friday.
Fred Jimenez, a 10-year-veteran of the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, was corralling special needs students in a gymnasium on February 7 when the incident took place.
His wife of 25 years, Margo Jimenez, said school officials told her he had fallen while trying to shepherd a student in the proper direction.
But an internal report obtained by The Post gives a different version of events.
“Employee was pushed by a student and fell hitting his head,” the report reads
Jimenez, 73, suffered a severe head injury and massive brain bleeding, his tearful wife said.
“They knew what happened from the beginning but they were trying to cover their butts,” she said. “They told me my husband fell. He was pushed. He was pushed by a student who was over 6 feet tall. A big kid.”
In their initial public statements, school and district officials made no mention of a push, only stating that Jimenez sustained an injury while trying to “redirect” the student during an “interaction.”
San Antonio police are probing the case, which has now been categorized as a homicide by the Bexar County Medical Examiner.
“Mr. Fred was a beloved colleague and friend to many of us,” the Northside Teachers Union said in a statement. “Moreover, what happened to him — the very situation that cost him his life — is a worry that nags at educators in Northside ISD and across this state daily.”
Doctors removed portions of Jimenez’s skull in an attempt to relieve pressure on his brain, but the damage was too extensive and he passed away last week.
His shattered spouse — who lost her only son in a car accident last year — mourned the sudden passing of her “soulmate.”
“He was such a good man,” she said. “Even when he was sick, he would insist on going to school. He would tell me that no one else knew what buses they all had to get on, and he had to be there for them to make sure they got home. He loved those kids.”
But like many teachers across the country, Jimenez would confide in his wife that violence was rampant at the school.
He would often return home with physical marks caused by student assaults.
“He would come home with a bruise on his face, a black eye, cut up arm,” she said. “These students, something triggers them and they just go off and there is no stopping them.”
Jimenez, she said, was her only source of solace after the loss of her son. “We would cry together, and I would feel better,” she said. “Now, it’s just an empty house. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Northside school officials declined to comment on her statements.
“The entire Bronco family is grieving his loss,” the district said. “His impact on the campus was far reaching and impacted students and staff both in and out of the classroom. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the Jimenez family during this challenging time. We remain dedicated to providing support to Mrs. Jimenez and her family.”