ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — The sudden death of Roger Clarke High School teacher Damani Campbell on Tuesday, has left his family and school community devastated.

Campbell died just months after being promoted to senior teacher at the St Elizabeth- based institution.

Principal of the school George Lewis told Observer Online that Campbell was ‘the life-blood’ at the facility, and that his hardwork and dedication made way for him to elevate.

“September 2019, Campbell a young teacher would have left Bethlehem Moravian College and joined the staff and I can jump to the end and tell you that September 2023, he was promoted to a senior teacher post, in that short time,” Lewis said proudly.

“It is because of his hardwork, commitment and dedication to his profession. It was an earned position.”

Lewis said the death of the educator has left the school “broken.”

“We are grieving. We are broken. Every aspect of school life Damani Campbell had engrained himself into,” Lewis said, noting that the young educator is “irreplaceable.”

“It is just impossible to replace him,” Lewis stressed, noting that with school reopening in a matter of days, the trauma team is expected to be at the institution to provide support to staff and students.

Campbell’s mother, Novlette Foster, is also reeling from his death. She said his death has shaken the quiet community of Balaclava.

“[His death has shocked] the whole nation. [It is] just shocking to everyone,” the distraught mother said, adding that she last heard from her son on New Year’s Day when he called to wish her a happy new year. Little did she know that would have been their last conversation.

“He was not here New Year’s day, and he called me and wish me all the best,” the mother said.

Foster said she was at home on Tuesday when she got a call that her son was at the Mandeville hospital. She said she moved swiftly but was met with the sad news of his passing when she got there.

She told the Observer Online that her son reportedly collapsed while preparing breakfast with his spouse in Mandeville.

“He was with his girlfriend. She said she was doing the tea, and he was frying the franks and so their backs were turned to each other and she just heard, buff. When she turned around she saw him on the ground gasping for breath. She called the neighbour who rushed them to the hospital,” the grief-stricken mother recounted.

She remembered her late son as a “standout” young man who made her “very proud.”

– Kimberley Peddie