After the Habersham County School System reported lowering COVID-19 cases throughout the system on Friday, the Board of Education extended sympathies to the friends, families and schools of two employees who lost their battles with COVID-19.
During Monday night’s school board meeting, Habersham Board of Education Chairman Russ Nelson extended his sympathies to the schools and families of Level Grove teacher Patricia “Pat” Wilkes and Fairview Elementary School Paraprofessional Alice Kay Templeton, who both passed away due to COVID-19.
“I’m going to take a minute on behalf of the five of us [Board of Education members] that are up here to pay tribute to the two employees that we lost in the last month with their battle with COVID,” Nelson said before he adjourned the Monday meeting.
Wilkes, who passed on Aug. 25, and Templeton, who passed on September 9, were both hospitalized for COVID-19 preceding their deaths.
“We just would like for everybody to know that we’re thinking about their families in their passing and we’re very sorry,” Nelson said. “This virus is a bad thing up there and we really hate it.”
Teacher Pat Wilkes was loved by many, former students have attested to her impact as a teacher, and those who worked alongside her noted her love for her students.
“Pat Wilkes was a wonderful person and a great employee,” Superintendent Matthew Cooper said. “I have heard many people speak about what a positive person she was. I have experienced the loss of staff members as both a Principal and Superintendent. It is never easy and other than losing a student it is the most difficult thing to experience as an administrator. Our school system is praying for the family of Ms. Wilkes.”
In addition to teaching at Level Grove Elementary, Wilkes also drove a special needs bus for Habersham County.
“She was an amazing advocate for her students,” said Transportation Director Stephanie Walker. “[She] took care of them like her very own.”
Paraprofessional Alice Kay Templeton worked with special needs students as well. Friends, family members and other Habersham Schools staff remember her as a caring, sweet individual who always brightened someone’s day. She was loved by Fairview’s faculty, staff and students alike.
“Our school system family is deeply saddened by the loss of our employee at Fairview Elementary School,” Cooper told Now Habersham. “She was a great employee who loved working with her students. Our school system is grieving this loss today and we are praying for the family.”
Fairview Elementary School Principal Jennifer Chitwood says Templeton was “a great employee,” and that FES is grieving her loss and praying for her family daily.
Other Habersham Schools employees have been hospitalized with COVID-19, according to Habersham County Schools Director of Nursing and Health Sciences Crystal Holcomb.
“We are aware there have been some staff members hospitalized after contracting COVID-19,” Holcomb says. “But we do not track or report that private medical information.”
Habersham Central coach Chris Akridge was hospitalized with COVID-19 for more than two weeks, and later shared his journey in a late August Facebook post.
“A month ago, I could open-water swim in the lake for 40+ minutes without stopping. Today, a 15-minute walk around the yard truly feels as if I just ran 5 miles,” Akridge wrote five days after returning home from the hospital in the widely-shared post. “It’s still unfathomable what this virus has done to my body.”
The school system’s last COVID-19 report showed that faculty and staff COVID-19 cases had decreased from 32 cases to 12 cases. Another update will come this Friday.
