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Atlanta elementary school rallies to support ill teacher

Friends and colleagues of Burgess-Peterson Academy teacher Dionne Huggins have created a GoFundMe account to help pay for her medical expenses and support her son. Huggins is in a local hospital being treated for a serious illness, colleagues say. (Courtesy of GoFundMe)

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

Friends and colleagues of Burgess-Peterson Academy teacher Dionne Huggins have created a GoFundMe account to help pay for her medical expenses and support her son. Huggins is in a local hospital being treated for a serious illness, colleagues say. (Courtesy of GoFundMe)
By
Feb 8, 2023

The faculty and staff of an Atlanta elementary school have created an online fundraising effort to support a teacher hospitalized with an undisclosed serious illness.

Burgess-Peterson Academy teacher Dionne Huggins has been in the intensive care unit at Emory Midtown Hospital since Jan. 28, where she has been unresponsive, according to a message the school’s principal, David A. White, posted on the school’s Facebook page and PTA newsletter.

Huggins is the school’s Gifted and Talented lead teacher after having taught first grade for many years.

“She is an amazing teacher, a dedicated member of our school family, and a single mom to her awesome 12-year-old son, Jackson,” White wrote.

Her colleagues started a GoFundMe account with a goal of $25,000 to help pay for medical expenses and support her son.

The school is located near I-20 and Glenwood Avenue in East Atlanta.

About the Author

Eric Stirgus joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001. He is the newsroom's education editor. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Eric is active in the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and the Education Writers Association and enjoys mentoring aspiring journalists.

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