Elgin High School teacher lost vision in knife attack

The Elgin High School teacher stabbed by a student lost vision in one of her eyes as a result of the attack, district officials said Monday.

Carolyn Gilbert, 50, of Bloomingdale, was stabbed multiple times in the neck and once near the eye by a 16-year old student Friday.

"We're unsure right now if the (blindness) is temporary or permanent," Elgin Area School District U-46's chief communications officer Tony Sanders said.

Gilbert was initially treated at Sherman Hospital in Elgin but transferred to the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago. She was released Sunday.

Gilbert had been alone with the student in her first-floor classroom when the attack occurred.

Another staff member heard her cries and intervened, Sanders said. The student was arrested at the scene and the knife was recovered, officials said.

The 16-year-old male student was charged with aggravated battery with a weapon and aggravated battery to a teacher, both felonies.

The student is being held in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, where a hearing will take place today.