Washington Country Public Schools announced on Sunday that board member Jacqueline Fischer stepped down from her position after posting on social media citing scenarios on how US President Donald Trump could die from Covid-19.
The resignation prepared by Fischer was revealed in a news release from the school system.
The statement said that board member Fischer's resignation came after she posted comments on her social media account about the President of the United States. The comments do not show the views, opinions, or positions of WCBOE (Washington County Board of Education) or the WCPS (Washington County Public Schools).
On Sunday afternoon, Fischer did not give further comments and said her resignation will be in effect on Tuesday.
The release stated Fischer's resignation will formally be accepted by the board of education at a 6 p.m. meeting on Tuesday. The release said a public statement will be released by the board of education at the meeting.
The board will gather in person, although the building where they will be having their meeting is closed to the public because of the new coronavirus pandemic. The meeting can be publicly viewed at the Washington County Public Schools website.
Fischer's personal Facebook page posted three scenarios for President Donald Trump to die from the coronavirus. The said posts also used swear words.
On Friday afternoon, Fischer told Herald-Mail Media that she has taken back the comments, articulating that she never wanted anyone to die. In a statement, Fischer uttered she made the posts out of frustration and said she should have hoped for Trump's defeat in the upcoming election.
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About an hour later, the Facebook posts on Fischer's personal page were removed. Screenshots of the posts remained to circulate online and have been shared in threads that drew a negative reaction from the public.
At some point, Fischer's personal page still contained several other posts that strongly protest against the president and the Republicans. By Friday evening, several posts from the past two days were removed by the page but had been reposted by commenters.
One of those objecting was Washington County Republican Central Committee chairman, Jerry DeWolf, calling Fischer's posts disgusting, especially because they were from an elected official who supervises the school system, Fox News reported.
On Sunday, DeWolf expressed his gratitude to Fischer for her resignation letter on behalf of the entire Republican Party of Washington County and the State of Maryland, together with the local residents who reacted on Fischer's Facebook statements.
In a telephone interview on Sunday, DeWolf stated he had been speaking to some school board members and said they were considering options on how to deal with the heated controversy.
According to Herald Mail Media, Wayne Ridenour, the school board member, declined to give his comment Sunday. According to Ridenour, he wanted to keep silent until the scheduled board meeting on Tuesday, when the body can accept the resignation of Fischer and move on.
Melissa Williams, school board president, could not be contacted for her comment.
According to DeWolf, if the resignation of Fischer will be accepted, a commission will be formed to determine a replacement for her position.
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