TUCSON, AZ — COVID-19 has hit Tucson Unified School District -- the only Southern Arizona district to remain remote-only -- very hard.
On a radio show Wednesday, Arizona Superintendent Kathy Hoffman stated a Tucson school district lost six employees to COVID-19 just last week.
Hoffman appeared on the Mike Broomhead Show on KTAR.
She did not specify the district, but the ADE tells us Hoffman was made aware of it when a principal from Tucson Unified reached out to her.
She said, "I heard from an educator that shared with me just last week in Tucson, one district lost six employees to COVID. They died from COVID just in one week. So for that community they have, they are enduring this trauma, they're coping. The students are feeling this trauma, so I do think local context matters.“
This followed a question from Broomhead on why the re-opening of campuses is not an option in every district.
It’s unclear whether the employees had any underlying health conditions.
KGUN9 asked Hoffman for a statement and we were pointed to Hoffman’s State of Education Address delivered Tuesday.
She stated, “I heard from an educator that shared with me just last week in Tucson, one district lost 6 employees to COVID. They died from COVID just in one week. So for that community they have, they are enduring this trauma, they're coping. The students are feeling this trauma."