Second special education staffer at Lancaster, SC school dies from COVID, district says
A second special education staff member at a Lancaster County school has died this week from COVID-19 complications, school district officials said.
Eleanor Mends, was a special education teacher at South Middle School, said Michelle Craig, spokeswoman for the Lancaster County School District.
Another support staffer in the special education department at the school died earlier this week from COVID-19 complications, the district said Wednesday. That first person who died was not identified by school officials because district officials had not spoken to family members, Craig said.
Officials have not released information about how the two staffers may have contracted the disease or the exact dates each died.
Craig said Friday morning the two people who have died did not work in the same classroom.
“Currently, the only connection between the two was that they were both employees of South Middle School,” Craig told The Herald Friday morning.
A 16-year-old Andrew Jackson High School student died in August from COVID-19 complications, officials said last month.
‘Schools are a family’
Mends had years of teaching experience and worked with the Lancaster district for three years, according to the district.
“We are saddened to learn of the passing of a second South Middle School staff member,” the district said in a statement Friday. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Ms. Mends during this difficult time.”
Lydia Quinn, director of the district’s human resources and chief operations office, said Mends started at Indian Land High School, then moved to South Middle School this year.
Quinn said she had emailed Mends on Monday, asking her how the new year was going.
“She said, ‘I’m loving my South people,’” Quinn said.
Quinn said Mends was a friend and like family.
“We’re saddened for her, for her family, and for her school family. Because schools are a family, Quinn said. “People say being a teacher is a job, and that’s true, but when someone’s a teacher, that’s who they are.
“This is someone who thought of her students as her own.”
No plans to go fully virtual
Bryan Vaughan, director of safety and transportation for the school district, said top district officials were aware of the second COVID-related death at South Middle School.
“There are no plans at this time to close the school and go virtual,” Craig said. “We continue to follow quarantine guidelines for all students and staff.”
A school district online survey asking parents if they want to switch to online school will close at noon Monday.
Last month, Lancaster County School District board voted to shorten some quarantine periods despite a record number of COVID-19 cases, The Herald previously reported.
Classes with more than three cases in two weeks have been “shut down,” moving to virtual learning during the district’s quarantine period of 10 days, Quinn said.
However, one school, Indian Land Intermediate School, switched to virtual learning on Aug. 31 due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, the Herald reported. The school returned to in-person learning on Tuesday.
No mask mandate
The district will not requires staff and students to wear masks because of a year-long state rule that bans mask mandates in schools. While school districts like Columbia and Chester have defied this mandate and are requiring masks, Lancaster will not.
Schools who defy the state proviso could lose state funding, Quinn said. Lancaster school district receives $70 million of its annual $100 million budget from the state, she said.
“That’s how we pay salaries,” Quinn said. “I’m not sure that’s something we could afford to do.”
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is recommending schools require masks and is asking the General Assembly to revisit its anti-mask mandate provision to allow local school officials to make decisions, The State newspaper reported.
On Friday, however, DHEC Dr. Edward Simmer said although the agency has the authority to issue a statewide order mandating masks in schools, it’s not feasible, according to The State.
Last month, the South Carolina Department of Education began requiring masks to be worn on school buses.
COVID-19 cases at South Middle, district
This week there were six staff members and seven students at South Middle School tested positive for COVID-19, according to the COVID dashboard on the district website Friday.
South Middle had 10 students and two staff on quarantine, according to the dashboard.
District-wide, 152 students and staff members were positive for coronavirus this week, the dashboard shows. More than 2,100 people across the district were in quarantine, according to the district’s dashboard.
At a recent school board meeting, Lancaster County School District Superintendent Jonathan Phipps said district cases are already double what they were at peak last year.
“Last year with that, we would’ve shut schools down,” Phipps said. “We probably would’ve shut the district down.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 9:45 AM with the headline "Second special education staffer at Lancaster, SC school dies from COVID, district says."
