Fairfax County special education teacher charged with assaulting multiple students

A Virginia public school elementary teacher is facing charges for allegedly assaulting multiple students in the classroom.

Elizabeth Yoshimi Nagagata, 62, a Fairfax County Public Schools special…

A Virginia public school elementary teacher is facing charges for allegedly assaulting multiple students in the classroom.

Elizabeth Yoshimi Nagagata, 62, a Fairfax County Public Schools special education teacher, faces seven misdemeanor charges for assaulting at least three students on separate occasions.

According to a press release from the West Springfield Police Department, the assaults occurred between September 2023 and April 2024, when the investigation began following a tip from Child Protective Services that a teacher was seen assaulting a student at White Oaks Elementary.

Nagagata is being held at the county’s adult detention center without bond. Despite the charges, her name remains listed on the district’s website. 

This incident is part of a troubling trend of attacks on special education students in schools across the country. 

Last month, a Texas special education teacher, Shaq Morales, was arrested and charged with assaulting an autistic student during class.  

Morales, an employee at Banuelos Elementary School, allegedly threw an autistic student to the ground, causing a bloody nose and a bruised face.  

The incident was reported by a teacher’s aide who found the student crying and bleeding from the assault. 

Morales now faces charges of injury to a child – serious bodily injury and is being held on a $40,000 bond. 

In April, a Colorado public school paraprofessional was arrested after surveillance footage showed her assaulting a severely autistic, non-verbal student on a school bus.  

Kiarra Jones, a former bus aide for Littleton Public Schools, is facing charges of crimes against an at-risk juvenile, including third-degree assault.  

The video showed Jones elbowing the child in the stomach, slapping him in the face, stomping on his feet and shoving his body into the side of the bus. 

The police investigation found Jones had assaulted other students, too.  

Three families have since filed a lawsuit against the school district, claiming the district failed to act, allowing the abuse to continue for months.