An upstate New York special education teacher tragically died in her classroom, along with her unborn baby, the school announced. A news release from Kendall Elementary School stated that 29-year-old Courtney Fannon was found unresponsive in her empty classroom after school hours. Despite life-saving measures, both Fannon and her unborn baby were declared dead. A cause of death hasn’t been released.
According to a GoFundMe page, Fannon was pregnant with her daughter, Hadley Jaye, and was about four weeks away from her expected arrival. The GoFundMe stated, “For those who did not have the wonderful opportunity to meet or get to know Courtney, there is an endless amount of positive and good things that can only be said about her. She was loving, genuine and organized in a way that always placed her students ahead of herself, ultimately changing the lives of her students and caregivers, always for the positive.”
The post read, “As we mourn, we also ask that you hold your loved ones just a little tighter over the next few days; you never know if you will have a tomorrow with them.” The school said that Fannon had a “passion” for teaching special needs students and always had a friendly smile on her face. The school said, “Courtney was a special education teacher who served her students with passion and joy each day,” the school said. “When she wasn’t in her classroom sharing her love and gift for teaching with her students, she could be found walking our halls with a smile and a friendly hello.”
According to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Fannon sent a text to her husband and was packing up for the day and preparing to head home from school. The newspaper reported that just minutes after Fannon sent the text to her husband, she was found unresponsive in the school building. Fannon was rushed to the hospital, where she and her unborn daughter Hadley both died. Her family says Hadley was due in April. Mental health counselors will be available to support students, the school said. The GoFundMe has raised more than $95,000.