A Tulsa Public Schools teacher has died from COVID-19.
District officials confirmed the teacher's death late Wednesday. They declined to identify the teacher or the school they taught at.
The district issued a statement calling the teacher's death "heartbreaking."
"Every loss of a team member means that others have lost a child, parent, spouse, grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend, colleague, or mentor.
“When team members pass away, we focus on doing everything that we can to wrap our arms around those left behind — family members, colleagues, and students — to ensure that they have the supports they need as they navigate through such an extraordinarily difficult time."
News On 6 has reported but KWGS has not confirmed that the teacher's husband died from COVID nine days earlier.
According to TPS, the district had 96 confirmed cases of COVID among students and staff for the week of Sept. 3–9, with students accounting for 80 of them. Another 547 students and 68 staff members were deemed close contact exposures. TPS expects students to wear masks and allows them to opt out for documented medical exemptions or other district-approved reasons.
So far this school year, COVID-19 has killed at least six public school employees statewide and an Oklahoma City Public Schools student.
In November, TPS confirmed two employees had died after testing positive for COVID.
