Deputies respond to kerfuffle at school board

DURHAM » Two Butte County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to Wednesday night’s Durham Unified School District board meeting after Superintendent John Bohannon called 9-1-1 to report that members of the public were disrupting the meeting.

“There was a group of people expressing dissatisfaction with the state mandate that masks be worn in classrooms and our enforcement of that mandate,” said Bohannon.

Following about 45 minutes of public discussion a handful of the “30 to 40” people attending the meeting continued “shouting, screaming at the board, calling the board names, talking over the trustees and refusing to settle down,” said Bohannon.

“While there were only a few being disruptive they certainly had the support of others in the room. It was group effort,” he said. “We were unable to continue the work of the meeting which was really about the district budget and the construction project at Durham Intermediate School.”

Unable to proceed with agenda business because of the ruckus, the board went into closed session, cleared the room and Bohannon called for law enforcement assistance at 8:16 p.m. He said deputies arrived very quickly. However, when deputies arrived the disorderly parents were outside the meeting and did not go back inside. No arrests were made.

“The deputies stood outside and there were no more disruptions,” said Bohannon. “I also want to say that there were plenty of parents there who were being respectful.”

Parents still had the opportunity to watch the meeting when the board came back into session as a projector and speakers were set up with a Zoom link outside the meeting room.

Bohannon said that of the 1,010 students in the district only six — three elementary and three high school students — have an “issue with wearing a mask and refuse to follow the rule.”

The three elementary students have not attended school for the past 10 days due to the mask mandate and the high school students, while not in class, are showing up at school and being provided instruction outside. Four of the six students are from the same family, according to Bohannon.

“I would say 99 percent, probably 99.5 percent of the students are following the rule. The reason (wearing a mask) is imperative is so we can keep as many kids as possible in class learning every day,” said Bohannon.