Lexington One elementary school teacher dies of COVID-19, officials say
A teacher at an elementary school in Lexington died from complications caused by COVID-19, Lexington County School District One officials said Sunday.
Staci A. Blakely, a teacher at Carolina Springs Elementary School, died Saturday, Lexington One spokeswoman Mary Beth Hill told The State.
“Mrs. Blakely’s death is a tragedy,” Lexington One Superintendent Greg Little said in a news release. “She was a wonderful, warm teacher who will be missed.”
Blakely was a third grade teacher at Carolina Spring Elementary who had 28 years of experience in education, according to the release. She began her education career as a second and third-grade teacher at Virginia Park Elementary in Richland County School District One in 1992 before joining Lexington One in 1999.
Blakely was last at the elementary school on Platt Springs Road Nov. 5, and she tested positive for the coronavirus on Nov. 11, according to the release.
Lexington One said it followed procedures for contact tracing and notification of close contacts after learning Blakely tested positive for COVID-19.
There have been no other COVID-19 positive individuals in her classroom, either before or after she became ill, officials said.
Employees at the school were told about Blakely’s death Sunday by Principal Todd Brown, according to the release. That’s the same day the school informed the parents of her current students, officials said.
Counselors and psychologists will be at the school on Monday to help any students or staff, according to the release.
Lexington One officials said Blakely’s family allowed the school district to share news of the teacher’s death with the public because they think it’s an important reminder about the very serious nature of this disease. The family has asked for privacy at this time.
“One of the ways we can celebrate her life is being sure that we continue to take care of each other,” Little said.
On Sunday, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced 2,538 new cases of COVID-19 and confirmed 43 more deaths in South Carolina. Two of those deaths were reported in Lexington County, where 227 people have died of the coronavirus since March.
In September, an elementary school teacher in Richland County School District Two suffered a coronavirus-related death. Demetria “Demi” Bannister, 28, was a teacher at Windsor Elementary School. Weeks later, her mother Shirley Bannister, the chair of the nursing department at Midlands Tech, also died of COVID-19.
On Saturday, the Orangeburg County School District said it was going to online-only classes because of a rise in COVID-19 cases among teachers and staff.
After a high number of teachers called in sick last week, Lexington-Richland 5 School District voted to move middle and high school students to a two-day-per-week “hybrid” schedule.
In the Lexington 2 School District, more than 20 teachers were out multiple days last week, in what appeared to be a protest against the district’s coronavirus policies. A “higher than normal” number of teachers were out at Airport High School and Brookland-Cayce High School, and both schools continued to operate with replacement staff, the district said.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
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This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 1:25 PM.
