TeWinkle night custodian dies after falling while he was on the job

A night custodian at TeWinkle Intermediate School died shortly after falling while he was on the job, according to county officials.

Rodrigo Ospina died Sept. 1, a few days before the first day of school, TeWinkle Principal Kira Hurst told the campus community the next day.

The Tustin resident was 68.

The 26-year employee of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District died of blunt-force injuries to his head that were the result of a fall, according to the Orange County coroner’s office.

The accident, which did not have any witnesses, involved Ospina falling from a 6-foot ladder, a coroner report said.

After the fall, Ospina was taken to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, where he was pronounced dead around 8:30 p.m.

Because the incident is under investigation, Newport-Mesa Unified officials said they were not able to disclose any information related to it.

Hurst wrote in her Sept. 2 message to TeWinkle staff and parents that Ospina’s “kind nature and sweet sense of humor will be deeply missed … Our sincerest thoughts are with Mr. Ospina’s family, loved ones, and to the community in which he was a beloved member.”

Ospina’s family told the Daily Pilot on Monday that he was a happy person, a good father and good husband who liked to help people and who worked hard.

Services for the longtime district employee took place Sept. 11 and Sept. 12 in Santa Ana. He was buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park and Mortuary.

Communication from the superintendent’s office about Ospina’s death was also sent on Sept. 8 to employees working in the district’s main office on Bear Street in Costa Mesa, according to David Johnson, president of the Newport-Mesa chapter of the California School Employees Assn.

Johnson said he has not heard about the remaining employees at Newport-Mesa’s other campuses receiving any notification about Ospina.

“He was a good employee,” Johnson said. “At his school site where he was, he was respected and well-liked.”

He added: “I do think classified employees need to be offered more opportunities to go to conferences and to participate in trainings … those opportunities are offered to administrators and teachers, and it would be nice if classified personnel got recognized as well. On the safety side, the safety trainings we do get, but we need to make sure people are getting it often enough and that it’s reaching everyone that needs to receive it.”

According to Johnson, training for classified employees can vary from Internet tutorials to in-house training on how to use certain equipment.