An Idaho charter school principal and father of seven has died after reportedly contracting COVID-19.
“It is with shock and deep sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Javier Castaneda,” read a letter Heritage Community Charter School posted to students’ parents.
“We know that this announcement will be very difficult for you and your children. It is difficult for us to comprehend this loss and will be even more difficult for our students,” read the letter.
Although the school has “suffered a tremendous loss,” it pledged to “follow the example set so well by Dr. Castaneda – to strive to meet our Core Characteristics of responsibility, diligence/work, compassion, friendship, courage, loyalty, perseverance, and honesty. That is what Dr. Castaneda would want from us, and that is what we will do.”
The Caldwell school — about 30 miles west of Boise — focuses “on a classical liberal arts education with a strong foreign language emphasis through a dual language immersion program,” according to its site, on which it also translated the letter into Spanish.
Castaneda died Wednesday as “an unexpected result of COVID-19 illness,” and is survived by his wife and seven kids, according to a GoFundMe page created Thursday and linked to by the school.
Although the school has employed some COVID-19 restrictions, face masks are optional, according to The Associated Press.
