350-pound Minnesota teacher stood on sixth-grader's back, injuring boy, charges say

Jenny Berg, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Mar 26, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS — A teacher from Underwood, Minnesota, is facing a criminal charge after reportedly stepping on the back of a sixth-grade student, leaving the boy “walking around like an 80-year-old from the pain,” his mother told authorities.

Jason L. Rogers, 47, was charged in Otter Tail County District Court this month with one gross misdemeanor count of malicious punishment of a child.

According to the criminal complaint, a deputy responded to a Fergus Falls hospital on Feb. 10 for a report of an assault that occurred earlier that day at Underwood School District.

A sixth-grader said he was lying on his stomach during a lockdown drill when Rogers, who weighs 350 pounds or more, stepped on his back with both feet for about 10 seconds, the complaint states.

The boy said that he started crying because his entire back hurt and he didn’t know why Rogers did this because he “did not hear him say anything about it and just stepped on him like a ‘stepping stool,‘” the complaint states.

The following day, Rogers told a detective that his students were asked to line up against the wall and sit down during a lockdown drill but a couple of students decided to lie on their stomachs next to the door; he said he “didn’t feel the class was taking the drill seriously” and then “placed his foot onto the lower back” of the student and removed it when the boy started to cry, the complaint states.

Another student told the detective that Rogers stepped on the boy with both feet. Rogers then told the detective “he might have stepped on (the student) with both feet” and admitted to stepping on two other students, too, the complaint states.

The Underwood School District website lists Rogers as a fifth- and sixth-grade science teacher, as well as the co-head wrestling coach and junior high football coach.

Rogers’ first court appearance is April 8.

Underwood School District Superintendent Jeff Wilson did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday; the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead reported this week that Rogers is on administrative leave from his position.

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