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Angry Crowd Disrupts, Forces Adjournment of LA BESE Board Hearing

Courtesy: LA BESE Youtube Channel
Credit Courtesy: LA BESE Youtube Channel
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Courtesy: LA BESE Youtube Channel

LA BESE BOARD DISRUPTION— Louisiana’s top school board abruptly ended a chaotic meeting  as a raucous crowd of angry, unmasked parents packed the hearing room yesterday. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education  was to debate  whether Gov. John Bel Edwards’ mask mandate for schools should be challenged but after several disruptions,  the board  warned the hundreds of people assembled  they needed to follow protocols  AND  wear masks to comply with the mask mandate  before the meeting could continue AS medical experts who were to speak refused to enter the room because so many people weren’t wearing masks.

DISRUPTIVE AUDIENCE - Hundreds of people filled the chamber of the LA BESE hearing on mask mandates but refused to wear masks when asked forcing an adjournment.
Credit Courtesy: AP Photo
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Courtesy: AP Photo
DISRUPTIVE AUDIENCE - Hundreds of people filled the chamber of the LA BESE hearing on mask mandates but refused to wear masks when asked forcing an adjournment.

But despite the warning,  the crowd refused.   So  in response, a motion to adjourn was made since so many in the audience refused to wear masks. The board abruptly voted 8-2 to adjourn the hearing and the crowd erupted into shouting about recall efforts for board members.   Edwards' executive order has divided parents and provoked loud protests in some school districts.  During his monthly radio broadcast yesterday Governor Edwards had this to say about the mask mandate.

"With respect to schools, it's the only way that we have a reasonable shot to keep schools open and keep kids safe and I would hope that the people of Louisiana would just come to understand that." Edwards said.

Healthcare experts say wearing a mask can help reduce community spread of disease.   Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry recently issued an opinion  that  Louisiana's top school board has the final say on mask rules in schools, not Gov. John Bel Edwards.   Governor Edwards’s Mask Mandate will remain in effect until September 1st. The BESE Board isn’t scheduled to meet again until October.       

The Louisiana BESE board hearing was abruptly adjourned due to hundreds of angry parents who refused to follow protocols and mask mandates for the meeting.

Copyright 2021 Red River Radio

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' experience to Red River Radio having started out as a radio news reporter and moving into television journalism as a newsmagazine producer / host, talk-show moderator, programming director and managing producer and news director / anchor for commercial, public broadcasting and educational television. He has more recently worked in advertising, marketing and public relations as a writer, video producer and media consultant. In pursuit of higher learning, Chuck studied Mass Communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.