Fort Worth schools report two employee deaths from COVID-19 as positive cases spread
Fort Worth school district officials Tuesday reported that two employees recently died of COVID-19 and positive student cases in the first few weeks of school have nearly surpassed all of last year’s cases.
Officials led by Deputy Superintendent Karen Molinar updated the board of trustees on the district’s Safe Return to Learning plan during the board workshop meeting.
Among the updates, Assistant Superintendent Michael Steinert said two district employees died during the past week because of COVID-19.
District officials did not identify the employees, and a spokesperson said they would not share further details out of respect for the families.
According to a Southwest High School Facebook post, teacher Richard Zarza died on Monday from COVID-19 complications. He had taught engineering and robotics at the school for four years, and he previously worked at Dunbar High School.
“Richard was an amazing educator,” Southwest High Principal John Engel said in the post. “His passion for student success was evident in every part of our engineering program. His legacy will live on through the numerous lives he impacted.”
“Students have said he was one of the greatest people they have had the privilege of knowing,” the post says. “In the time they spent with Mr. Zarza he had a great impact on their lives.”
Services for Zarza will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Azle & Lake Worth Funeral Home, 850 Cardinal Road in Azle.
Monlinar said this doesn’t mean that the employees were exposed to the virus on a district site. No student deaths were reported.
As of Sept. 10, there were more than 700 active COVID-19 cases among students — about 1% of the student population — and more than 4,500 active students quarantined — about 6% of the student population.
There are also nearly 200 active cases among employees — nearly 2% of the employee population — and more than 400 employees in quarantine — nearly 4% of the employee population, according to district data.
In total, there have been more than 12,000 students who either tested positive for COVID-19, were exposed to someone with the virus on campus or were exposed to someone with the virus off campus since Aug. 16. About 72% of these students were exposed to someone with the virus on campus.
More than 1,300 employees have either tested positive for COVID-19, were exposed to someone with the virus on campus or were exposed to someone with the virus off campus.
Molinar said the last school year, with not all students on campus, the district reported 1,900 positive student cases total. Since the beginning of the current school year, the district has reported 1,600 positive student cases, nearly surpassing all reported cases from a year ago in about five weeks.
Steinert said there have been cases of entire classrooms being exposed and quarantined.
Quarantines have impacted district staffing, with more than 1,800 teacher absences reported from Sept. 7-10. Out of those absences, fewer than half were filled, according to district data.
Molinar said they are looking across the district to have central support staff go into classrooms when they cannot be filled.
Board member Roxanne Martinez said she’s glad to hear that central staff is going to be providing coverage.
“I know there’s a shortage of [substitutes],” she said. “But I’ve been getting lots of concerns about just students sitting in auditoriums and classrooms.”
Molinar said the district is combating spread through its COVID-19 protocols, which include enhanced cleaning of schools, establishing seating charts and cohorts to better contact trace, promoting daily self-checks and more. Because of legal limitations, district officials can only encourage masks inside buildings and buses, not require them.
Molinar said the district has encouraged schools to limit large, indoors gathering such as pep rallies. Some schools have utilized their outdoor seating during lunch time, and some classrooms have had instruction outside, she said.
The district is also hosting COVID-19 vaccination clinics at high schools starting Monday until Sept. 22. Exact locations and dates are available on the district website.
This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
