VA Girl Dies Of COVID-19 After Teacher Made Her Accompany Sick Students, Parents Say

SUFFOLK, VA — Virginia school officials in the Hampton Roads area are investigating claims that a 10-year-old girl died from complications related to COVID-19 after an elementary school teacher instructed the student to accompany sick students to the school nurse.

The girl, who the parents have identified as Teresa Sperry, died last Monday at a hospital after suffering symptoms that began with a headache and quickly worsened. Teresa attended Hillpoint Elementary School in the Suffolk Public Schools district.

Teresa’s parents have said on social media and in interviews that their daughter told them the week before she died from COVID-19 that a teacher had given her the responsibility of escorting sick students to the school nurse.

“That was her classroom job,” her father told The Virginian-Pilot last week.

“And she said that if the kids were sick and needed to go home, she had to go get their book bag and take it back,” Teresa’s mother added.

A Suffolk Public Schools spokeswoman told The Virginian-Pilot that the elementary school that Teresa attended has a rule for how to handle children with COVID-19 symptoms, and only adults are allowed to accompany them.

Teresa Sperry was one of two children 10 or younger who died in eastern Virginia last week from complications related to COVID-19. The other child died on Wednesday.

According to officials, they are the 12th and 13th juvenile deaths in the state since the beginning of the pandemic. More than 1,000 children in Virginia have been hospitalized with the coronavirus.

Nicole Sperry said she attributes her daughter’s death to parents allowing their sick children to attend school. Suffolk Public Schools Superintendent John B. Gordon III announced Teresa’s death in a letter to the community Tuesday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

All K-12 students are required to wear a mask in Virginia schools.

“My beautiful girl was taken from me because people are too damn selfish to care about what could happen to others,” Nicole Sperry wrote on Facebook. “We wore our mask because there are too many in our tribe who are at risk. My daughter was not at risk. And now she is gone.”

Funeral services for Teresa Sperry will be conducted at Altmeyer Funeral Home – Southside Chapel in Virginia Beach on Sunday, Oct. 10 at 1:30 p.m. Teresa will be laid to rest at Holly Lawn Cemetery following the service at about 4 p.m.

"In her brief 10 years on this Earth, Teresa was a ray of light and positivity to many," an online obituary for Teresa reads. "She was a friend to all even to those that would bully her. Teresa had an appreciation for the arts. She loved drawing, dancing at home, and singing."