ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — The Ector County Independent School District said a four-year-old child at Lamar Early Education Center died at a hospital on Monday after suffering a medical emergency at school.
According to ECISD Superintendent Dr. Scott Muri, several staff members including a nurse, teacher, the assistant principal and others provided life-saving measures to the child. Once paramedics arrived, they also administered life-saving measures as they transported the child to the hospital.
“We are devastated,” Dr. Muri said. “The loss of a child creates unimaginable pain. Our trauma team was at Lamar yesterday to support the staff, students and families who need a counselor to talk with. That trauma team will remain at the school for as long as they are needed. The entire ECISD team extends our deepest condolences to the student’s family.”
The Odessa Police Department and ECISD Police have partnered to conduct a joint investigation into the four-year-old's death. OPD is leading the investigation.
According to the Ector County Medical Examiner's Office, an autopsy is being conducted on the four-year-old child.
"Anytime we have an incident or an injury to a student or anything that involves a child, we want to do some type of after action report to see, 'Are there situations that we can improve, do we provide the right level of care, is there something about the environment of the situation?'" Dr. Muri said. "We typically do that after any incident that we have just to ensure the safety of of all of our students."
Dr. Muri said the district will continue to provide support to the Lamar Early Education Center community and police officers who were on site during the time of the incident as needed.
The ECISD communications department told NewsWest 9 that there are no further details to release at this time, including the name of the child.
NewsWest 9 will continue to update this article as we learn more.