All 21 Bedford County schools will be closed on Wednesday for a one-day cleanup in response to the death of a high school student who had an antibiotic-resistant staph infection.

School officials announced the cleanup today at a press conference called following the death Monday of Ashton Bonds, 17, a senior at Staunton River High School. School officials don’t know if Ashton was infected at the school, but don’t want to take any chances.

Bedford County, which enrolls approximately 11,000 students, has reported at least five cases of infections with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in its school system this fall, three at Staunton River and two at Jefferson Forest.

Staunton River High students, who organized a protest overnight Monday via text messages and social networking sites, took Superintedent James Blevins on a walking tour of the school this morning to show him how unclean the locker rooms, in particular, are.

Staunton River students can leave school early today if they so choose. About 150 of the school’s 1,100 enrollment had done so by late morning.

Staunton River will be cleaned by a commercial cleaning company on Wednesday. The county’s other 20 schools will be cleaned by janitorial staff.