Demetria ‘Demi’ Bannister 3rd grade South Carolina teacher for Richland School District Two dies of coronavirus three days after diagnosis. Windsor Elementary School educator was much loved.
A 28-year-old South Carolina elementary school teacher died of coronavirus on Monday, three days after being diagnosed with the illness, school officials have said.
Demetria ‘Demi’ Bannister, a third-grade teacher at Windsor Elementary School in Columbia, was last at the school on Aug. 28 during a week of teacher workdays before classes started, officials said.
Bannister had just started her third year of teaching third grade and had been working from home since classes began on Aug. 31 as her school district — Richland 2 — kicked off the year with all virtual classes the State reports.
‘While gone from us too soon, Ms. Bannister’s legacy lives on through the lives of the students she taught in her five years as a dedicated educator,’ Richland 2 superintendent Baron Davis said in a statement.
It’s unclear where Bannister contracted COVID-19, but the district instructed custodians to deeply clean the school.
‘Windsor’s Songbird’
School officials are also working to determine individuals Bannister may have been in contact with.
In addition to her third grade class, Bannister led the school’s student choir in a variety of performances and hosted a student club for aspiring singers. She served as a 2020 Team Leader, helped lead school spirit initiatives and served on the school’s AVID site team.
‘Ms. Bannister loved her students and never missed an opportunity to advocate for students and public education,’ Richland Two School District said in its release.
Former co-workers describe Bannon who’d been in the teacher profession for five years as going above and beyond for her students, along with having a passion for the arts.
‘Known as Windsor’s Songbird, Ms. Bannister used her musical talents to bring a great deal of joy to our school,’ said Denise Quickel, principal of Windsor Elementary.
No date has been set for Bannister’s funeral, according to her obituary with the Leevy Funeral Home.
South Carolina, to date, has reported more than 126,213 COVID-19 cases and 2,942 deaths since the pandemic gripped the US in March.
