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Who is Rosalind Osgood? Florida school board imposes mask mandate after 3 teachers die of Covid

Florida school board chairwoman Rosalind Osgood defied Ron DeSantis' mask mandate ban after three teachers died of Covid within 1 day of one another

Three teachers in the district have died from Covid-19 amid an onslaught of Delta variant cases. As a result of which the chairperson of a Florida school board, Rosalind Osgood justified the choice to disobey Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' prohibition on mask regulations, news outlets reported on Sunday, August 15. Three unvaccinated Broward County Public Schools teachers died of Covid-19 within 24 hours of each other on Tuesday, August 10 and Wednesday, August 11. Janice Wright, a 48-year-old Pinewood Elementary teacher and union steward; Katina Jones, a 49-year-old Dillard Elementary teacher and Yolonda Hudson-Williams, a 49-year-old Dillard Elementary teaching assistant lost their lives to the virus. A fourth victim of the virus was a Broward County Public Schools graduate who was reported to have tight links to the school district through her work. All of the instructors died just as the Broward County School Board voted to disobey DeSantis' order to repeal the mask mandate

Masks are still mandatory to wear in the United States. In March, after Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announced their plans to allow businesses to reopen at full capacity and lift mask mandates, President Joe Biden expressed his views, calling the moves a “big mistake.”

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Recently, writer and teacher Bethany Mandel had posted another tweet before uploading the image of what looked like a filthy mask, in which she questioned “progressives” for “scaring” their children into wearing dirty masks for lengthy periods of time, backing up her claim with a slew of facts. 

On CBS's 'Face the Nation on Sunday', Broward County School Board President Osgood claimed the area is "living out the nightmare of the Covid pandemic, where so many people in our county, including members of our staff and others, are being impacted," according to the Daily Mail.

Who is Rosalind Osgood?

Osgood is the current president of the Broward County School Board. According to the Boward Country Schools website, Osgood is a native of Broward County and a Fort Lauderdale High School alumnus. Nova Southeastern University awarded her a Master's and a Doctoral degree in Public Administration. Her LinkedIn profile says she is a "Candidate for Florida Senate District 33".

Dr Mack King Carter, the late preacher extraordinaire, licensed Osgood as the New Mount Olive Baptist Church's first female pastor in 2001, the website added. She was ordained in 2002 and received her Master of Divinity from New Orleans Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in December 2007. Osgood has written two scholarly articles as well as a book called "The Story Behind the Story." She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the Fort Lauderdale Chapter of the Links, Inc., among other professional groups. She has served on a number of boards and committees during her career. Osgood became the city of Fort Lauderdale Police Department's first female chaplain in 2013.

For the past 16 years, Osgood has served as the CEO of the Mount Olive Development Corporation. She formerly taught Leadership and Public Policy Evaluation in the Master of Public Administration Program at Nova Southeastern University's Huizenga School of Business. She is now a member of the Broward County School Board, where she represents District 5.

Osgood's remarks on Sunday, August 15, came only days after the school board mandated that students, teachers, and visitors wear masks. Student exemptions, on the other hand, require a doctor's note. "We believe that we have a constitutional obligation to protect the lives of our students and staff," she said according to the Mail.

Biden administration intervenes

Osgood told CBS Miami that she is heartbroken at the deaths of four of their own. "I have been on the school board for 9 years, and for 9 years you get to connect with them. You love them. They become family," she said. After DeSantis threatened to withdraw school money on Friday, August 13, the Biden administration" intervened and let schools replace staff wages with funds from pandemic relief initiatives. "It was very encouraging to get the support of the White House during this very, very difficult time that we find ourselves in," Osgood said. "We've been working extremely hard to put these in place, and we're not going to risk their lives by allowing it to be optional," she added.

Florida on August 14 recorded a seven-day rolling average of 21,706 new cases daily, as the state's numbers continue to rise. In the state's weekly report, the health department documented an additional 1,071 fatalities, for a daily average of 153. This brings the statewide total to 2,877,214 cases and 40,766 deaths.