Teresa Sperry beamed with pride in September when she told her father about the job she’d been assigned by her fifth-grade teacher.
Days earlier, the teacher had made Teresa the “class nurse,” putting the Virginia girl in charge of walking sick classmates to the nurse’s office, waiting for them to be treated and, at times, returning to the classroom to retrieve their backpacks if Hillpoint Elementary School officials sent them home, her father, Jeff Sperry, told The Washington Post.
“I asked her, ‘So is this your job?’ ” Sperry recounted. “And she gave me several examples of people that day she took to the nurse’s office.”
Sperry, who was driving Teresa and her brothers home from school, was infuriated. The school never asked for her parents’ consent, he said, and he feared for his unvaccinated daughter’s health as the delta variant spread across the country in the coronavirus pandemic’s second year.
Those worries mounted when, days later, Teresa returned home from school with a headache and a day later, a 102-degree fever. Within a week, she was dead.
On Sept. 27, Teresa became one of the first children in Virginia to die of covid-19. Her death certificate states that she died of cardiac arrest caused by coronavirus complications.
“My daughter was 10, and the vaccine wasn’t out” yet for children, Sperry, 41, told The Post. “Of all the people in the world who could have done that job, she was unprotected.”
Teresa contracted the virus weeks before federal public health authorities approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 — but her parents say she would have received it as soon as possible.
The Sperrys will never know whether Teresa, whose story was first reported by the Virginian-Pilot and WAVY, caught the coronavirus at school. Suffolk Public Schools completed an investigation into Teresa’s death that revealed that a teacher assigned the girl the “class nurse” job on Sept. 21. The teacher, though, denied that Teresa was asked to escort sick children to the nurse’s office and said the girl never accompanied students who exhibited symptoms of the coronavirus to the clinic, according to a three-page report reviewed by The Post.
Teresa’s parents said they had to file a public records request to obtain a copy of the report. Dissatisfied by the district’s investigation, they are now demanding a new probe from administration officials and the release of dozens of records, including emails, interviews and surveillance video they say the school declined to release when they filed their public records request.
“They aren’t being honest,” Teresa’s mother, Nicole Sperry, also 41, told The Post. “What Teresa told us does not match the report.”
A spokeswoman with the district declined to answer questions sent by The Post, saying that Suffolk Public Schools “cannot comment on any particular student or how Suffolk Public Schools addresses the health needs of any particular student.”
“However, Suffolk Public Schools issued COVID-19 Guidelines to address and promote safety, health, and welfare of our students, employees, and our community,” spokeswoman Anthonette Ward told The Post in an email.
Neither Hillpoint Elementary School’s principal nor the assistant principal responded to messages from The Post.
Teresa loved singing to soundtracks for “Frozen” and “The Greatest Showman.” (Courtesy of Nicole Sperry)
When the pandemic hit, the Sperrys spent most of their time at home to protect Jeff, who is diabetic, suffers from high blood pressure and is on disability after suffering a spinal injury. One of the couple’s four children adapted well to remote learning, the Sperrys said, but not Teresa, who was used to spending hours playing outside with other neighborhood kids or attending Girl Scouts meetings before the pandemic. The other two were vaccinated and attended in-person school.
“She missed her friends so much,” Nicole Sperry told The Post. “… She loved school. She hated last year because they were virtual all year.”
After months of Teresa’s remote-learning fatigue and missing her teachers and friends, the Sperrys, like many parents, weighed the risks of sending their unvaccinated daughter back to school. They eventually agreed to let her return to her elementary school, hoping her mental health, social life and the quality of her education would outweigh the risks.
Parenting a child under 12 in the age of delta: ‘It’s like a fire alarm every day’
Days earlier, the teacher had made Teresa the “class nurse,” putting the Virginia girl in charge of walking sick classmates to the nurse’s office, waiting for them to be treated and, at times, returning to the classroom to retrieve their backpacks if Hillpoint Elementary School officials sent them home, her father, Jeff Sperry, told The Washington Post.
“I asked her, ‘So is this your job?’ ” Sperry recounted. “And she gave me several examples of people that day she took to the nurse’s office.”
Sperry, who was driving Teresa and her brothers home from school, was infuriated. The school never asked for her parents’ consent, he said, and he feared for his unvaccinated daughter’s health as the delta variant spread across the country in the coronavirus pandemic’s second year.
Those worries mounted when, days later, Teresa returned home from school with a headache and a day later, a 102-degree fever. Within a week, she was dead.
On Sept. 27, Teresa became one of the first children in Virginia to die of covid-19. Her death certificate states that she died of cardiac arrest caused by coronavirus complications.
“My daughter was 10, and the vaccine wasn’t out” yet for children, Sperry, 41, told The Post. “Of all the people in the world who could have done that job, she was unprotected.”
Teresa contracted the virus weeks before federal public health authorities approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 — but her parents say she would have received it as soon as possible.
The Sperrys will never know whether Teresa, whose story was first reported by the Virginian-Pilot and WAVY, caught the coronavirus at school. Suffolk Public Schools completed an investigation into Teresa’s death that revealed that a teacher assigned the girl the “class nurse” job on Sept. 21. The teacher, though, denied that Teresa was asked to escort sick children to the nurse’s office and said the girl never accompanied students who exhibited symptoms of the coronavirus to the clinic, according to a three-page report reviewed by The Post.
Teresa’s parents said they had to file a public records request to obtain a copy of the report. Dissatisfied by the district’s investigation, they are now demanding a new probe from administration officials and the release of dozens of records, including emails, interviews and surveillance video they say the school declined to release when they filed their public records request.
“They aren’t being honest,” Teresa’s mother, Nicole Sperry, also 41, told The Post. “What Teresa told us does not match the report.”
A spokeswoman with the district declined to answer questions sent by The Post, saying that Suffolk Public Schools “cannot comment on any particular student or how Suffolk Public Schools addresses the health needs of any particular student.”
“However, Suffolk Public Schools issued COVID-19 Guidelines to address and promote safety, health, and welfare of our students, employees, and our community,” spokeswoman Anthonette Ward told The Post in an email.
Neither Hillpoint Elementary School’s principal nor the assistant principal responded to messages from The Post.
Teresa loved singing to soundtracks for “Frozen” and “The Greatest Showman.” (Courtesy of Nicole Sperry)
When the pandemic hit, the Sperrys spent most of their time at home to protect Jeff, who is diabetic, suffers from high blood pressure and is on disability after suffering a spinal injury. One of the couple’s four children adapted well to remote learning, the Sperrys said, but not Teresa, who was used to spending hours playing outside with other neighborhood kids or attending Girl Scouts meetings before the pandemic. The other two were vaccinated and attended in-person school.
“She missed her friends so much,” Nicole Sperry told The Post. “… She loved school. She hated last year because they were virtual all year.”
After months of Teresa’s remote-learning fatigue and missing her teachers and friends, the Sperrys, like many parents, weighed the risks of sending their unvaccinated daughter back to school. They eventually agreed to let her return to her elementary school, hoping her mental health, social life and the quality of her education would outweigh the risks.
Parenting a child under 12 in the age of delta: ‘It’s like a fire alarm every day’