BEATTYVILLE, Ky. — A second staff member with the Lee County School District has died from COVID-19 since the start of the school year.

District officials confirmed custodian Bill Bailey died Sunday morning. His death follows the death of fifth-grade instructional aide Heather Antle in late August.

“Heather was a real positive. She was full of energy, and she contributed to anything that was needed at any time,” Lee County School District Superintendent Sarah Wasson said. “She always had a smile and always worked really hard, and Bill is the same way.”

Wasson said Bailey was known for pulling pranks on the elementary school students.

“We had a meeting yesterday and the staff talked about how much of a prankster he was and how special he was to them because he cared about them as people and not just about his job,” she said.

Wasson said the district did all it could, sanitizing surfaces frequently and separating students into small pods, but COVID-19 was still a problem. The school district closed entirely for five days in August, then utilized non-traditional instruction (NTI) days for another five days.

Wasson said she’s worried about using all of the district’s NTI days.

“In Lee County, we might need those days for the road conditions or time when the weather is bad, so I really want to hold out,” she said.

Lawmakers gave districts some flexibility during last week’s special session with Senate Bill 1, which allows them to use 20 days of remote learning, on top of the usual NTI days they usually get each year.

Wasson said her understanding of the bill is she can’t use the remote learning days to shut down both schools in the district, which is a problem if another outbreak happens.

“I hope that they would provide us with the flexibility to be able to utilize those the way we need to utilize those,” she said. “In our district, my elementary students and my middle-high school students are mostly tied in the same families or in extended families, so when the community spread here is high, then that’s going to affect, most likely, both schools.”

Senate Bill 1 also gave districts the ability to implement their own mask policies, and Wasson said the district will consider one at a board meeting Tuesday.

The district released a survey online last week and Wasson said it came back with 80% of respondents saying they want masks.

“It’s my opinion, and I will recommend to our board that we wear masks right now while the numbers are high,” she said.

The district now has weekly COVID-19 screenings, so while staffers mourn the loss of another member of their family, there’s hope they can keep the virus at bay.