BESE board meeting abruptly adjourned after chaos erupts from anti-maskers

Louisiana State School Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE)  was scheduled to discuss whether it or the governor has final say over whether masks are mandated in public schools, but the meeting did not get that far on the agenda. The meeting was continuously interrupted, prompting the board to vote 8-2 to adjourn the meeting before the item came up for discussion. Therefore no decision was made on whether children can be made to mask in classrooms.

Much of the audience remained unmasked during the meeting, despite Gov. John Bel Edwards’ indoor mask mandate and multiple announcements before and during the meeting that masks were required. Staff made the announcement during executive session, reminding the audience that anyone not wearing a mask would be removed from the meeting. Multiple times during the live stream, a woman in the audience could be heard yelling, “I can’t hear you with a mask on!” to members of the board while they were speaking.

Chants of “No More Masks” rose from the crowd while BESE was in another room in executive session to evaluate state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley.

USA Today reporter Greg Hilburn reported that right-wing Baton Rouge pastor Tony Spell stood up on a chair in front of the room during a break. He attempted to “takeover” the meeting, telling attendees, “They cannot arrest all us.”