Hoover classrooms sanitized after teacher dies of MRSA

The school is being sanitized after Silver Spring resident Merry King, who taught a class of 26 students at the school, died in the hospital Sunday from complications due to methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. King had been absent from the school since Nov. 30 and hospitalized since last week, according to Kate Harrison, a spokeswoman for Montgomery County Public Schools. King had taught with MCPS for three years.

In a letter sent home with parents Monday, Principal Billie-Jean Bensen said she did not think the teacher’s illness was contracted at the school.

PTA President Geri Shapiro said parents trust that Bensen is doing her best to protect Hoover students.

‘‘They are confident that Billie-Jean [Bensen] is doing everything in her power and the school’s power to ensure that the safety of the children is the number one priority,” Shapiro said.

MRSA made headlines in October after more than two dozen cases were reported in Montgomery County Public Schools. Staph bacteria are most commonly transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, especially through openings in the skin like cuts or scrapes.

Harrison said she did not know where King had acquired the infection, but that she had no reason to believe it was at the school. As a precautionary measure, Harrison said the classroom where King taught was cleaned, and that common areas are being sanitized with a bleach solution.

Stanton said she felt a sense of relief that the school was being sanitized.

‘‘I think the school is going to behave in the right way,” she said.