Education Week - May 17, 2023 - 10

After Threats and Unruly Meetings,
School Boards Invest in Security
By Caitlynn Peetz
In Sarasota, Fla., people who attend
school board meetings must be
screened by a handheld metal detector,
a measure implemented after
a few boisterous meetings in 2020
about pandemic masking policies.
The district is one of a growing
number that have bulked up security
at school board meetings following
unruly meetings in recent years.
Once stopgap measures, many
districts have decided to make metal
detectors, security guards or police
stationed in the meeting room, and
mandatory bag checks permanent in
an effort to dissuade and quickly address
disruptive behavior.
While the measures aim to make
board meetings safer, experts warn
that they could send the opposite
message, and continue to fuel the
mistrust among community members
that led to increased tensions in
the first place.
The Sarasota district declined to
comment, but said in a statement
that the board " cited general security
concerns as well as the fact that other
local government and public entities
either already had-or were planning
to implement-similar measures as
rationale for the changes, " which
will remain in place " until the School
Board changes or discontinues them. "
When the Stamford, Conn., board
of education returned to in-person
meetings in 2022, it began having
a police officer present to help with
crowd management and promote
safety, according to local news reports.
The officer's presence was
implemented as a proactive measure,
even though discussions about controversial
issues never reached the
same boiling point seen elsewhere.
And in Richland, Wash., the school
district hired a private company to
provide a security guard for its meetings
after an altercation at a meeting
last year. The district's spokesperson
told local reporters that community
members did " not feel safe coming
to board meetings " after the incident
and felt " there are people who are
intimidating people who don't agree
with them. "
The spokesperson, Ty Beaver, declined
to make administrators available
for an interview with Education
Week, but said in a statement: " This
was done at the request of school
board leadership. We are committed
to ensuring productive environments
for our community to engage with the
board and district staff and will continue
to take steps as needed to accomplish
that goal. "
Additional security could strain
community relationships
Historically an often-overlooked
local government proceeding, school
board meetings have become a focal
point of tensions involving topics
such as masking and pandemic
school closures; academic recovery
efforts; and race, gender, and cultural
issues.
Meetings have, at times, grabbed
national attention as they've dissolved
into shouting matches,
prompting arrests and sometimes
cancellation of the meetings altogether.
The
additional security personnel,
police, or metal detectors school
boards have instituted in response are
intended to improve at least the perception
of safety, but some experts
say the measures could continue to
damage relationships with community
members.
" It's more of the fueling of this feeling
that school boards are up to no
good, or are on opposing sides, even
as both groups are trying to work toward
calm, " said Rebecca Jacobsen,
a professor of education policy and
politics at Michigan State University.
It could also inadvertently raise
anxiety levels, creating a perception
that meetings aren't safe, added Jeffrey
Henig, a professor of political
science and education at Columbia
University's Teachers College.
" If we want parents to come to
school board meetings and to raise
concerns and the like, then there are
other things that would be less likely
to create an impression of an armed
state or create an impression that
public officials are afraid of voters in
their community, " Henig said.
10 | EDUCATION WEEK | May 17, 2023 | www.edweek.org
That's not to say school board members
don't have real reasons to be concerned
for their safety.
A report by Reuters in February
2022 found more than 200 examples
of school board members being harassed
or threatened. Some even received
death threats targeting them or
family members.
National response to threats
When dysfunctional meetings were
at their peak in 2021, the National
School Boards Association asked
President Joe Biden for federal help to
stop the " growing number of threats
of violence and acts of intimidation. "
The group said the threats, harassment,
and violence targeting school
officials could be " the equivalent to a
form of domestic terrorism and hate
crimes. "
Attorney General Merrick Garland
said the FBI would discuss how to
counter those threats, but that only fueled
the problem, with some claiming
it was a move to censor free speech.
House Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said
Garland's efforts amounted to " a
snitch line on parents. "
More than a dozen state school
board associations withdrew from the
national organization in response. The
NSBA ultimately apologized, saying
" there was no justification for some
of the language included in the letter.
We should have had a better process
in place to allow for consultation on a
communication of this significance. "
Through spokesperson Jason Amos,
the NSBA declined an interview request.
While
the call for a federal response
to the threats was tensely debated,
there's no doubt that districts across
the country faced threats and disruptions.
Loudoun
County, Va., board meetings
were repeatedly interrupted in
2021 and 2022 by people upset about
pandemic protections, anti-racism
efforts, and student gender policies.
There, in June 2021, one person was
arrested during a public comment
period about proposed rules for transgender
students. The public comment
period ended early as the board could
not regain control of the meeting. The
district enrolls about 80,000 students.
Police were called to a Hillsborough,
N.J., school board meeting in February
2022 and adjourned early amid discussions
about masking requirements.
A Dearborn, Mich., school board
meeting was abruptly ended in October
2022 when a crowd objected to
how the district reviews library books.
In Stillman Valley, Ill., a district of
about 1,500 students, Superintendent
PJ Caposey said he had items thrown
at him in the grocery store during a
stretch of particularly tumultuous
school board meetings.
Tensions can linger
While experts warn school boards
to be wary of pitches from school security
companies, a long-term plan
Security officer James White
wears a mask as protesters
hold signs during a board of
education meeting in Castle
Rock, Colo., to discuss the use
of masks and other protective
measures in Douglas County
Schools in August 2021.
Aaron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via AP
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Education Week - May 17, 2023

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