A popular teacher collapsed and died within minutes Wednesday in front of her class, sending screaming students into a panic-stricken rush from the building at the Swallowfield Primary and Junior High School on Whitehall Avenue in Kingston.

School officials said yesterday that more than 300 traumatised teachers and students at the school were receiving counselling after vice-principal and grade six teacher, Delores Fenton toppled over as she taught class.

She was declared dead by doctors shortly after at the regional University Hospital of the West Indies.

Grief-shrouded school principal, Al Solan, said he was first alerted that something dreadful had happened when he heard screams coming from the grade six block and saw bewildered students scampering from Fenton’s classroom.

“At about 1:30 in the afternoon yesterday, I was in my office when I heard a commotion coming from the grade six block,” he told the Observer. “When I got out of my office to see what was going on, I saw a student running towards the office, almost out of breath and on the verge of collapsing. She told me that Mrs Fenton had collapsed.”

When Solan got to the classroom, he saw two teachers over Fenton who was face down on the floor and apparently not moving. He said he then assisted them to move her on her side in order to prevent her from choking.

A frantic call was made for an ambulance while the school’s guidance counsellor and nurse checked Fenton’s vital signs. When the ambulance did not arrive quickly enough, Fenton, still unresponsive and unconscious, was taken by car to the hospital.

“The doctor put her on a machine and that was when he pronounced her dead,” said Neril Ellis, another vice-principal who, accompanied by two other teachers, took Fenton to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit.

Solan said that Fenton had had a heart condition and last year underwent several surgeries related to that condition.

Fenton had been teaching at the Swallowfield Primary and Junior High since 1977 and was preparing her grade six class for the upcoming Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) before her death.

Yesterday, her classroom, which was normally occupied by 45 students, was empty and her books and other teaching materials were piled neatly on her desk at the back of the classroom. The chalkboard had artwork by the students dedicated to their teacher.

“We love you, Miss Fenton, let your heart beat well,” one artwork said. To the right corner of the board was “20 days to go”, which indicated the time the students had left before the GSAT exams.

A few students who were in a grade six class nearby after school were in a sombre mood. “We don’t have Miss Fenton to teach us anymore, we are going to miss her,” one of the students moaned.

Solan said Fenton was a very popular teacher among the parents as most of the students from her class would normally excel in the GSAT exams.

“This is very traumatic for the students because they loved her very much, they even surrounded the car and cried while we were about to take her to the hospital,” Solan told the Observer.

Teachers, students and ancillary staff were being counselled by a team from the Ministry of Education and counsellors from other schools yesterday. Solan said that while classes for three of the four grade six classes resumed by midday yesterday, Fenton’s students were moved to a different part of the school. However, no classes were held.

Fenton was remembered by her colleagues as a very jovial, organised, caring professional person who went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that things were in order.