Maricopa students deal with teacher's death

Grief counselors were meeting with students at Maricopa High School on Monday, three days after a teacher collapsed in his classroom and later died.

David Rodriguez, 60, a new science and math instructor at the school, collapsed about 11:15 Friday morning, said Sgt. Stephen Judd, a spokesman for the Maricopa Police Department.

The school nurse and resource officer performed CPR before police and fire officials responded. Rodriguez was taken to Chandler Regional Medical where he was pronounced dead at about 12:10.

Based on the description from students in the classroom, police believe Rodriguez may have had a stroke, Judd said. Investigators are still waiting on a report from the Pima County Medical Examiner on the official cause of death.

In the meantime, school officials have stationed a counselor in each of Rodriguez's classes Monday and made other counselors available to students elsewhere in the building.

"I think they're more shocked than anything," school spokesman Tom Beckett said of the students' reactions to the death. "He was a new teacher here and I think he was starting to forge good relationships with kids." He had been at the school for a couple of weeks.

A substitute teacher is handling Rodriguez's classes while the districts begins a search for a permanent replacement, Beckett said.