Fed-up Houston ISD teachers will be attending a Houston City Council labor committee meeting on Thursday to demand answers from the district regarding the recent death of an eighth-grade student at Marshall Middle School. The Houston Federation of Teachers will be present at the meeting to voice their concerns. The incident occurred when the student, identified as Landon Payton, suffered a medical emergency in front of other students and staff members who attempted to help. He was taken to the hospital but sadly passed away a day later. The cause of death is still unknown.
One of the main issues surrounding this tragic event is the status of the defibrillator on campus. According to the Houston Federation of Teachers, staff members claim that the defibrillator at Marshall Middle School was not working when Landon collapsed. Defibrillators, also known as AEDs, are crucial in restoring a person’s heartbeat when it stops, and school districts are required to have them. The teachers’ union alleges that an attempt to use the defibrillator on Landon was unsuccessful due to its malfunction.
In the days following the incident, a former HISD nurse, Patricia Cook, came forward with claims that she had alerted the campus about a defibrillator with a dead battery during the previous school year. However, she asserts that no action was taken due to budget constraints. Cook explained that she had removed the defibrillator from the wall, informed the administrative office about its malfunction, and even placed an order for a new battery. These revelations raise concerns about the district’s response to maintenance and repairs of life-saving devices.
The Houston Federation of Teachers also raises questions about the regular servicing of the defibrillators. A third-party contractor is responsible for servicing the devices once a year, but it is unclear if this was done at Marshall Middle School. Despite these claims, HISD has not responded to the allegations and has not confirmed whether the AED was functioning properly at the time of the incident.
To shed light on the broader situation, it was discovered that a report released on August 1, just weeks before the student’s death, revealed that 170 defibrillators across HISD campuses were not working due to dead batteries. This revelation has shocked union leaders, who are now demanding answers from the district about the maintenance and functionality of these life-saving devices.
In response to these concerns, HISD claims that every school has at least one working AED, with an average of three functioning devices per campus. However, the district later clarified that their policy is to remove non-working devices and provide information about the location of the nearest operating device. It is unclear if this protocol was followed at Marshall Middle School.
The upcoming labor committee meeting will provide an opportunity for Houston ISD leaders to address these pressing questions and concerns. The teachers, along with the broader community, hope to receive clear answers regarding the state of the defibrillator at Marshall Middle School and the district’s overall approach to maintaining and ensuring the functionality of these life-saving devices.
This tragic incident serves as a reminder of the importance of having properly functioning defibrillators in schools. Recent studies have shown that early defibrillation significantly increases the chances of survival for individuals experiencing cardiac arrest. It is crucial for school districts to prioritize the maintenance and regular servicing of these devices to ensure the safety and well-being of their students and staff.
As the community awaits the outcome of the labor committee meeting, it is clear that there are significant gaps in the district’s response to the incident at Marshall Middle School. The teachers’ union and concerned citizens are hopeful that this meeting will lead to concrete actions and improvements to prevent such tragedies from happening in the future.
