Anti-masking protesters disrupt Poway Unified school board meeting

The Poway Unified Board of Education ended its Thursday meeting early after a group of people protesting mask-wearing mandates interrupted the proceedings, officials said.

The board was expected to discuss its safety protocols and public health guidance updates. They never got to those items.

According to a statement issued by the board Thursday evening, a small group forced its way into the district office, pushing past staff members, and refused to leave. The board was set to meet under closed session and then hold its regular meeting at 6 p.m.

Instead, the board members adjourned before the regular meeting could begin.

“This is an unfortunate example of modeling inappropriate behavior for our students and children who were present,” the board said in a statement. “The Board encourages civil discourse but this type of behavior will not be tolerated at any meetings.”

According to witnesses, there were around 25 protesters outside the school district offices in Carmel Mountain Ranch. They were carrying signs that read, “Let Them Breathe, unmask our kids,” “Recall Gavin Newsom” and “Critical Race Theory teaches hate, racism, division.”

Let Them Breathe is a group that wants masks to be optional and to end mask mandates for children and adults, according to its website. It has raised about $127,000 on GoFundMe to fund legal action against California for its mask mandates for students. The group promotes anti-mask protests across California from San Diego County to Stanislaus County and more.

The group’s founder Sharon McKeeman said Friday that what happened at the Poway board meeting was not organized or endorsed by Let Them Breathe. She said parents requested fliers and t-shirts, but that was the extent of the organization’s involvement in what happened at the Poway meeting. The group’s Instagram page shared a post about the “mask-choice rally” in Poway with information about the meeting date and district address.

McKeeman said Let Them Breathe does not organize rallies, but shares information about rallies organized by parents on the group’s social media accounts.

She said the group does not encourage or endorse anyone entering a school board meeting that has been posted as a strictly virtual meeting, but leaders of the group have attended public meetings that were in-person in the past.

Gabriela Dow, a parent of two students enrolled in Poway Unified schools, said Let Them Breathe is providing a platform and movement for people to spread misinformation. She said the group should condemn the actions that took place that prevented school officials from conducting important school district business.

“The name of the group Let Them Breathe is in and of itself misinformation, masks don’t prevent you from breathing ... they can’t breathe if they get COVID and are hooked up to a ventilator,” Dow said.

Dow said she stopped by the school district meeting on Thursday to provide a thank you note to district staff for their work. She said she had been to many meetings previously, but had never seen anything like the events of Thursday night.

“This was a whole different thing,” she said. “The district staff just looked stunned.”

The school board said in the statement that the public was notified that there would be limited in-person attendance at the meeting because of COVID safety protocols. The meeting was livestreamed and accessible virtually to the public — many of whom signed up in advance to speak online.

“However, due to the ongoing presence of protesters who refused to leave the meeting room and verbally abused the staff, law enforcement advised adjourning the meeting to ensure the safety of our staff and students,” the board said.

The San Diego Police Department, which the board said had advised the members to adjourn the meeting, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It’s unclear when the meeting will be rescheduled.