A teacher in Colorado passed away over the weekend, bringing the toll of untimely deaths at the Cherry Creek School District to three.
The physical education teacher, Scott Nash, is said to have died of unknown causes. This follows the deaths of two other teachers, Maddie Schmidt, and Judith Geoffroy.
The Arapahoe County Public Health Department has confirmed that Schmidt’s symptoms were consistent with meningitis, which includes nausea, a stiff neck, a sudden rise in body temperature, and a dark purple rash, according to a local hospital.
However, the Cherry Creek School District has asserted that Nash’s cause of death is unrelated.
The local health authority released a statement saying, “The Arapahoe Public Health Department is working closely with the Cherry Creek School District, sharing information and working together to perform contact tracing,” via USA Today.
They also advised that the medical examiner’s office is performing additional tests on the teachers and would release a statement once they determine the cause of death.
The circumstances surrounding faculty member Geoffroy’s death, who passed away on the same weekend as Schmidt, remain unclear.
Both women worked at Eaglecrest High School in Aurora, Colorado, at its integrated learning center. Their unexpected deaths resulted in the school being closed until Monday, per New York Post.
In response to these sudden deaths, the school district is working with the public health department and offering preventative antibiotics to those staff members and families deemed to be close contacts.
Despite Nash’s passing being unrelated to meningitis, the potential for an outbreak has caused concern for the community’s well-being.
The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office has yet to come to a conclusion about the cause of death for two of the teachers, and information is still being gathered.
Teachers are generally NOT healthy.