The Montgomery County, Va. school board meeting got heated on Feb. 15 when a parent confronted the chairwoman Susan Kass with maskless photos of herself in crowds while imposing mask mandates on the community’s children. The parent, Alecia Vaught, addressed the board and began by asking why Gov. Northam’s orders were followed regarding masks but Gov. Youngkin’s new bill to repeal mask mandates and make masks optional has been ignored.
“We sat here last year and listened to you guys preach to us about Governor Northam’s executive orders and how we must follow them. Remember that?” asked Vaught. “Here’s a governor that comes into office, [Youngkin] but yet you don’t want to follow his orders,” she pressed. “Why is that? Why is it different from last year when we were here to this year?” But everyone knows why, and Vaught laid it out perfectly. “Two different governors, different political parties. So we’re supposed to follow it last year, but not this year? That makes no sense, and it makes all of you a bunch of hypocrites.”
Then Vaught took out her phone and began showing photographs of board Chairwoman Kass maskless in crowded gatherings, photos the board member posted to Facebook. “Here’s a picture of you right here on Facebook with a crowd of people with no mask on,” she said.
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At that point, Kass lost her mind and started screaming at Vaught and telling her to stop talking and that her time was up. When Vaught would not stop, Kass called for a police officer to force Vaught to stop speaking. It is worthwhile to note that none of the people on public boards take criticism very well, even though the purpose of a public meeting is for members of the public to address their grievances. For some reason, our elected officials think public comment time should only be positive and never confront their inadequacies. The fact that Kass believed she had the authority to use police power to silence opposition is scary, especially because an officer with a gun did indeed come and stand next to Vaught in an intimidating way. He did not lay hands on her, however, and another board member, Jamie Bond, stepped in and told Kass to stop harassing Vaught.
“She should be able to say her piece,” Bond said. “I’ve had to listen to people come and criticize me.” After all, as an elected official, it’s in the job description to listen to the redress of grievances by the people served. Anyone who doesn’t want to do that should never run for office.
When Kass couldn’t get her way and have a member of the public arrested for daring to criticize her behavior, she stormed out of the meeting. As she walked by Vaught, Vaught said, “We’re coming for your seat,” and Kass responded, “You can have it.”
Kass wouldn’t return to the meeting, and business had to continue without her. Kass later played the victim, telling media that Vaught targeted her with the intention of getting her off the board.
School board meetings across the United States have been the most entertaining places in the country after draconian COVID-19 restrictions have been forced on kids. If you want to go where the action is, attend a school board meeting.
Watch:
Watch this school board member throw a tantrum and walk out of the meeting after being confronted with maskless pictures of herself. pic.twitter.com/sLCLMptqJa
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) February 20, 2022
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