A 10-year-old girl died of COVID-19. Her parents say she was given a 'classroom job' to escort other students with symptoms to the nurse's office.

• A 10-year-old girl in Suffolk, Virginia, died of COVID-19 last week.
• Her parents say she was exposed to the virus while escorting symptomatic students to the nurse.
• School officials are investigating, as the "classroom job" could violate district protocol.

A fifth-grader died from COVID-19, and her parents said she was exposed when she was given the "classroom job" of escorting students displaying coronavirus-like symptoms to the nurse, The Virginian-Pilot reported Monday.

Teresa Sperry, a fifth-grader who attended Hillpoint Elementary School in Suffolk, Virginia, died of COVID-19 complications last week. It's not immediately clear how Teresa contracted the coronavirus, as the Suffolk school division works with the Virginia Department of Health on contact tracing, according to the report.

Teresa's parents, Nicole and Jeff Sperry, said their daughter told them that, the week before she died, she was tasked with walking students to the nurse's office when they displayed symptoms.

"One of the things she told us before she got sick, was that her job was to be the 'class nurse' to take the sick kids from the class to the nurse's office," Jeff Sperry told CNN. "And you have to understand my daughter, this is who she is, helping people is my daughter, it's not something that she wouldn't have wanted to do."

Nicole Sperry added that Teresa said "if the kids were sick and needed to go home, she had to go get their book bag and take it back," according to The Virginian-Pilot.

"Our daughter was perfectly healthy. And would have continued to be here if people would have stopped sending their sick kids to school," Nicole Perry wrote in another post on Facebook.

Both parents are vaccinated, but Jeff Sperry tested positive for COVID-19 after his daughter contracted the virus, Nicole Sperry posted on her Facebook page.

Infections by the Delta variant of the coronavirus have been on the rise among young people, as those under the age of 12 are not yet eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Health officials have pointed toward young kids getting vaccinated by the fall at the earliest, pending results of clinical trials being run by Pfizer and Moderna.

Anthonette Ward, a spokeswoman for Suffolk Public Schools, told the publication that it is investigating whether a teacher had given Teresa the "classroom job," which would violate the school policy.

"The protocol at Hillpoint Elementary School is for the classroom teacher or any adult to contact the main office with a Code 'C,'" Ward told The Virginian-Pilot. "When this occurs, one of the administrators or school nurse will come to the classroom to pick up the student. We are still investigating to ensure that this process was followed with fidelity."

Representatives from Suffolk Public Schools did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.