A large crowd of seemingly frustrated parents showed up for the regularly scheduled Bibb County Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, August 10. Most appeared because of last week’s called board meeting when a decision was made to implement a mask policy for all students, visitors, teachers and staff inside of public school buildings. The crowd quickly filled the board meeting room and an overflow crowd was directed to the nearby auditorium where they were told they could view the meeting on tv monitors.
At least five parents requested speaking time on the public agenda and were in line to speak at the end of the regular business agenda. Superintendent Duane McGee courteously allowed each approved speaker liberal uninterrupted speaking time even though some of the speaker’s comments bordered on disrespect and confrontation. Nevertheless the speakers were allowed to speak without interruption from the BOE. All of the speakers were opposed to the mask policy and felt the Board had not considered the rights of parents in making their decision. The video included with this article only includes one of the speakers in the interest of video run time and is representative of the tenor and tone of the other speakers.
Following the presentation of the parent presentations Superintendent McGee called on Candace Shoults from Bibb Medical Center ER and Dr. John Meigs from Bibb Medical Family Practice. During their attempted presentations the crowd was often interrupting and disrespectful of the counterpoint presentations and unwilling to allow the speakers to make their points without trying to over ride their voice. It was often difficult for the Superintendent to maintain control of the crowd but he managed to display control and patience throughout the evening.
Following the parent presentations the Board meeting was adjourned without addressing the board policy.
The entire BOE meeting livestream video is presently available on Youtube at this link.
