Shadow Hills HS Mourns 32-Year-Old Teacher Who Died From COVID-19

PALM DESERT, CA — The Desert Sands Unified School District reported a total of 98 active COVID-19 cases among students and staffers Tuesday, just days after the death of a Shadow Hills High School English teacher due to virus complications.

Chris Trujillo, 32, died Sept. 11, according to the campus. Trujillo had been a member of the school's English department for the past five years.

"He's touched the lives of so many of our Knights, building their ability to express themselves through writing and helping them develop a deep love of literature," SHHS Principal Gabriel Fajardo said in a statement to students and families. "Mr. Trujillo was a man of faith. He was active in his church community. We know that he had a particularly strong bond with his mother. We hope she knows that her son was a force for good and a friend to many. We will honor his memory."

Shadow Hills High School students held a memorial for Trujillo at the school's campus on Monday.

According to the DSUSD's online case tracker, 76 students and 22 staff members across 36 schools have tested positive for COVID-19.

La Quinta High School had nine active student cases, the most of any school in the district as of Tuesday. Only four of the 36 schools listed on the dashboard have no active COVID-19 cases.

The district updates the COVID case tracker website daily and breaks down case numbers per school, distinguishing between cases involving students and staff. Once a case is no longer considered active, it is removed from the district's tracker. Cases are added to the dashboard within 24 hours of verification and anyone who was potentially exposed is informed.

More than 27,000 students returned to classrooms Aug. 18 under new COVID-19 protocols that include mask-wearing indoors regardless of vaccination status. Masks are optional outdoors and mask exemption forms can be filed by people who cannot wear them due to medical reasons, according to an 18-page document highlighting the district's COVID-19 precautions.

DSUSD's COVID-19 active case dashboard and COVID-19 guidelines can be found at https://www.dsusd.us/news/whats_new/COVID_safety_plan.