Houston ISD had 170 non-functioning AEDs in use before a student died at Marshall Middle School, a report shows

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) – After the death of a student nearly a week ago, Houston ISD is answering questions about how many of its life-saving devices are not working.

HISD has remained tight-lipped on questions about a life-saving device at Marshall Middle School. On Friday, Superintendent Mike Miles read a statement about the student's death but did not address the teachers union's concerns about a life-saving device that may have malfunctioned.

RELATED: HISD remains silent on alleged AED failure as middle school student suffered fatal medical emergency

ABC13 reporter Nick Natario peppered Miles with questions about it, but he moved on. On Monday, HISD released information about its defibrillators but declined to comment on the devices at Marshall Middle School.

“Because litigation is likely, the district will not answer specific questions about the events at Marshall Middle School,” said HISD spokesman Alex Elizondo.

Last Wednesday, the district said that Landon Payton, a student at Marshall Middle School, experienced a medical emergency during physical education class and that staff, including a nurse, took action.

Payton was taken to the hospital but died. The teachers union said the nurse tried to use a defibrillator, but it didn't work.

The device is designed to help restore a patient's heartbeat. The district said there are 1,038 of them in schools. A report released on August 1 showed that 170 of them were not working.

ABC13 asked HISD officials if they had removed the non-functioning devices from the school walls. “I can't say if they're still on the wall,” Elizondo explained.

HISD later clarified that the policy is to remove the non-working device and post a note with the location of the next device. Corina Ortiz, chief of staff for the Houston Federation of Teachers, said that is not the case at Marshall Middle School.

“She assumed it worked, so she ran to get it,” Ortiz said.

ABC13 asked the district about this, but they declined to say. The district has disclosed the geographic areas where the AEDs are located, but has not broken it down by school.

According to HISD, many of the problems are batteries. The district says new ones have been ordered but has not said when they will be fixed.

The district has changed who is responsible for the devices. Previously, it was the school principals, now it is central office employees.

The district said each school has at least one working AED, for an average of three working devices per campus.

However, union leaders were shocked to see a report showing that nearly 20% of defibrillators were broken and could not be repaired before the start of the school year.

“This is inappropriate, inadequate and negligent,” Ortiz said. Union leaders say every machine must be working to help staff if another medical emergency occurs.

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