NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. – Students in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system are beginning their 2021 school year absolutely crushed after discovering that some of their favorite teachers, who were unvaccinated, have passed away from complications related to the COVID-19 virus.
United Teachers of Dade confirmed Michael Thomas, who was a technology teacher at William H. Turner Technical Arts High School in Miami-Dade’s West Little River neighborhood, passed away on Monday.
The Medical Examiner’s Office reported he died Monday afternoon. Thomas was in the classroom during the first and second days of school before he was hospitalized.
He joined the district as a teacher on Aug. 18, 2006.
Thomas’ former students told Local 10 News they were devastated to find out about their teacher had passed away.
“I was sad about it because he was a really great teacher,” says his former student, Bryce. “I’m disappointed now because I won’t get to learn with him anymore.”
The students were clearly not kept in the dark about the details — for the most part, they all know exactly how and why their beloved teacher passed away on Monday.
“It devastated me because he didn’t get vaccinated,” says Bryce. “So, it just broke something within me.”
“It was a sad moment because he was a real good teacher,” added another former student, Charles. “I was in class one day and my teachers walked up to me and talked to me about it.”
Additionally, just down south in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood, Abe Coleman, who was a teacher at Holmes Elementary School in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood, also passed away from complications related to the virus.
Coleman had been working for the district for more than 30 years, since March 8, 1989, before testing positive for COVID-19 and dying from complication from the virus.
Amber Hayward-Carr, Coleman’s colleague and friend, said he was known as “the soul of Liberty City.”
“He was so dedicated to his community. He was dedicated to the children and he was so dedicated to the work that needed to be done,” Hayward-Carr said. “Mr. Coleman was something special ... it is a tremendous loss ... We deal with so much trauma and we have to find a way to be there for our students and Mr. Coleman was a master of that.”
His friend and colleague, Tanya Jackson, said she was texting with Coleman after he tested positive for COVID-19, and told him she would pray.
“I began to text him and ask him how he was, and didn’t get a response,” Jackson said. “And shortly thereafter, it went bad.
“He’s just irreplaceable,” Jackson continued. “I don’t know how to tell you how valuable he was and how valuable the lesson is, to please get vaccinated.”
The third Miami-Dade County Public Schools teacher to have passed away in such a short period of time is Lillian Smith, an elementary school teacher at Chapman Elementary School in Naranja, who passed from COVID-19 complications before the first day of school.