A ten-year-old Virginia lady died from COVID-19 issues simply days after she was appointed by a substitute trainer as a ‘class nurse,’ although the college maintains that she by no means got here into contact with children who had COVID signs.
Teresa Sperry was named class nurse at Hillpoint Elementary College in Suffolk on September 21. She died on September 27, in accordance with the Virginian-Pilot.
Teresa was not vaccinated as a result of youngsters below the age of 12 weren’t eligible for a vaccine till a month later.
Suffolk Public Faculties carried out an investigation into Sperry’s demise, leading to a three-page report obtained by Nicole and Jeff Sperry by a Freedom of Info Act request.
The report didn’t discover an occasion during which Teresa got here into contact with the somebody on the faculty who could have had the virus, however her dad and mom say the college’s investigation was incomplete and that they weren’t advised about her function as faculty nurse.
‘They made her do that job with out parental consent,’ Jeff Sperry advised the paper.
Teresa is one in every of 18 youngsters below 19 who has died from COVID-19 in Virginia, in accordance with the Virginia Division of Well being.
Greater than 250,000 youngsters have been recognized with the illness, and near 1,500 have been hospitalized with severe diseases.
Teresa Sperry, 10, was named class nurse at Hillpoint Elementary College in Suffolk on September 21. She complained of a headache the following day and died on September 27
Teresa (middle) was unvaccinated, as youngsters below the age of 12 weren’t eligible for a vaccine till a month later
Suffolk Public Faculties says there was no occasion during which Teresa got here into contact with COVID-19 as a part of her function as class nurse. Above, Hillpoint Elementary in Suffolk
‘Having a toddler stroll college students to the nurse through the pandemic? It’s nonsense. It’s insane. Had anyone requested me or knowledgeable me, I might have stated no.’
In line with the college district’s report, the college nurse and the trainer, a long-term substitute, stated that Teresa walked one scholar with an arm damage to the nurse’s clinic on September 21.
Teresa walked the coed again to the clinic on the identical day for an inhaler.
The subsequent day, she went to the nurse herself complaining a few headache, in accordance with WAVY.
The nurse logged her temperature at 97.4 levels, in accordance with the Virginian-Pilot. Teresa rested within the clinic earlier than she went again to class, in accordance with a clinic referral.
As a part of her job as class nurse, Teresa had additionally walked a scholar with an injured ankle to the clinic.
On September 29, Teresa’s trainer wrote to Hillpoint’s principal: ‘She walked one scholar on Wednesday who twisted her ankle on the playground to the workplace. I needed to keep outdoors with the opposite 24 college students. I had her hand out band aides [sic]. I by no means despatched her with a sick youngster.’
‘For those who print it out, it’s three pages,’ mom Nicole Sperry stated. ‘In the event that they actually wished to do contact tracing they might have finished extra’
The nurse stated Teresa didn’t go into the clinic, in accordance with the report. Clinic referrals state that no college students with COVID signs have been despatched to the clinic between September 7 and September 23.
Suffolk Public Faculties Superintendent Dr. John B. Gordon III advised WAVY, ‘It’s true that the coed had the job of nurse, however that was for Band-Aids or baggage of ice for youths who fell on the playground, etcetera.’
Jeff and Nicole Sperry consider the investigation wasn’t thorough sufficient.
‘I really feel that the investigation report is extremely incomplete,’ the dad advised the Virginian-Pilot.
‘How do they know who she was round whereas she sat outdoors the nurse’s clinic? They didn’t have a look at the cameras. There may be nothing in it about interviewing the safety guard, who would have seen my daughter going to the clinic. They didn’t interview anybody else that may have seen her.’
Teresa is one in every of 18 youngsters below 19 who has died from COVID-19 in Virginia, in accordance with the Virginia Division of Well being
‘For those who print it out, it’s three pages,’ Nicole stated. ‘In the event that they actually wished to do contact tracing they might have finished extra.’
The varsity didn’t present the doc to the dad and mom, who needed to file a FOIA request to get it.
‘They may name us to ask if there was permission for them to go to her funeral, however they will’t name and inform us this? That is extra essential than calling to see who can come to the funeral,’ Jeff Sperry advised WAVY.
‘I would like to have the ability to simply ask her,’ he added. ‘However I can’t. She’s gone.’
The district maintains that Teresa didn’t come into contact with COVID on the faculty earlier than she died.
‘College students who attend Hillpoint Elementary College who’re suspected of getting COVID signs are reported to the nurse or workplace with a telephone name to point a suspected Code C,’ the college district advised the Virginian-Pilot in a press release.
