SAUGUS — If a community effort is ever to be successful in combating something like a worldwide pandemic, you need a lot of unsung heroes — people who work behind the scenes to make sure things run smoothly.
That would be a perfect description of Jamie Osgood and Sandra Moynihan, who both work in the Saugus Public Schools. WIN Waste Innovations (formerly Wheelabrator) honored the two “unsung heroes” Monday at the Saugus Middle-High School.
Osgood works for Whitsons Food Service — the firm hired by the school department for school lunches. Moynihan is a school nurse who helped the town with its public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Osgood provided meals for students even during the months that the schools were closed, making sure that any student who relied on school meals for nourishment was taken care of. Moynihan was the lead nurse and played an integral role in keeping students, families and staff safe and healthy, according to WIN. She worked closely with the superintendent of schools and leadership team from the beginning to ensure that the district was making decisions in the best interest of public health.
Osgood feels that his efforts over the course of the pandemic helped him realize his passion for entrepreneurship and leadership. He majored in the former at Johnson & Wales University, and took a concentration in leadership.
The entire effort began when Saugus High alumnus John (Dennis) Gould and outgoing Superintendent of Schools Dr. David DeRuosi put together a backpack program for school children who needed them. From that effort sprung his lunch initiative, “Healthy Students, Healthy Saugus,” and that’s where Osgood comes in.
“I was starting to use those leadership skills there,” said Osgood, as Whitsons was the main supplier of in-school food for Saugus students. “When the pandemic hit, I was kind of geared up that way already. We got to blend the two programs and run with it.
“It’s been exhausting,” he said. “It’s a terrible situation, but I’ve enjoyed it as much as I can. My staff was wonderful. You can’t do these things without a staff. All the folks by my side did good work, and they were local. It was a great effort.”
But, he said, “one that I hope never to have to do again.”
Moynihan is an unsung hero in more than name only. She is uncomfortable being put in the spotlight because “I’m part of a team, and I’m used to doing what needs to be done to be part of the team.”
When the schools were closed in March 2020, “we were turned over to the local Board of Health, and we started doing contact tracing,” Moynihan said.
A school nurse who worked in hospitals most of her adult life, Moynihan had little experience in public health administration “and had to learn on the fly. There were a lot of webinars,” she said.
Also, she did not work typical school hours. They were more like the hours she worked in various hospitals in and around Boston, Moynihan said.
“Day and night,” she said.
When schools reopened last January, she came back, too — mainly to help head nurse Mary McKenzie and her successor, Teresa Riley-Singh.
Like Osgood, she acknowledged all the help she got.
“A lot of people came together,” she said.
