Mom, son among 3 deaths tied to Florida school
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The mother of Jordan Byrd, a 19-year-old custodian at a Tallahassee school who died of COVID-19, has herself died of the virus, further raising concerns about the state-mandated reopening of the school’s district, set for later this month.
Jacqueline Byrd, a former Fort Braden School employee, died Monday morning, according to loved ones. Her surviving son, Jacary Byrd, paid tribute to his late brother and his mother in a post on Facebook.
“To my heart I will definitely miss you!!” he wrote. “You and Jordan Byrd have both left me. I know that you both are having a good time in the Lord. Mommy I will definitely miss you.”
Jacqueline Byrd, 55, is the third person from the Fort Braden School community to die after contracting COVID-19. Her son Jordan, a school custodian who attended Fort Braden School as a child, died July 18.
Karen Bradwell, 53, who managed an after-school program at Fort Braden, died July 25, a week after Jordan Byrd’s death. Bradwell’s daughter was Jordan Byrd’s girlfriend.
Fort Braden is a Pre-K through 8th grade school that is a part of Leon County Schools. Jacqueline Byrd’s death comes less than three weeks before the planned reopening of Leon
County Schools. All schools are set to reopen Aug. 31; parents may choose to send their children to physical classrooms or enroll them in digital classes.
School Board members have agonized over how to safely reopen schools in the middle of a pandemic and are encouraging parents to use a digital academy option to keep their kids at home.
“Balancing the need for our children to be back in school with the need to keep our staff members safe is what keeps me up at night,” superintendent Rocky Hanna previously said. “Sometimes I feel like we’re trying to manage and control the uncontrollable.”
Fort Braden School principal Jimbo Jackson, who also serves as a county commissioner, has announced that he can’t support the physical reopening of classrooms – a step Florida has mandated. Jackson and several family members are themselves recovering after testing positive for COVID-19, a diagnosis Jackson first announced in early July.
“With great respect to our governor and state leaders, I have to look into the eyes of my school family of students and teachers and say I cannot guarantee your safety in this environment,” Jackson said in an email announcing Bradwell’s death. “That is a tremendous responsibility and makes me wonder who’s next? I cannot sit idly by and wait to mourn with another family.”
Jacqueline Byrd, who went by “Jackie,” worked at Fort Braden Schools for years before her retirement.