Anti-Mask Protestors Shut Down Brookfield Board Of Ed Meeting

BROOKFIELD — The Board of Education ended its Sept. 15 meeting following a series of parents' speeches condemning the schools' mask mandate.

Approaching the board shortly after it had concluded the portion of the meeting put aside for public comment, an unidentified woman who had not signed up to participate, announced: "I'm going to speak."

"No, you're not," Brookfield Board of Education vice chairman Bob Belden said.

"Yes, I am," the woman said. "I'm a taxpayer, and you work for me."

The speaker advanced to the podium, turned her back to the board members on the dais, and addressed the gathered families, asking, "Why is one group of people able to keep their freedom and another group is not?" She went on to claim that "mask mandates... will lead to vaccine mandates," before Belden requested the microphone be turned off.

The meeting, which began at 7 p.m., was recessed from 7:16 to 7:21 p.m., according to the meeting minutes. The public disruption continued, and the meeting was adjourned at 7:22 p.m.

Unrest over the school mask mandate, in effect at least until Sept. 30, when Gov. Ned Lamont's emergency powers are set to expire, has spread throughout the state.

In Haddam, anti-mask protestors interrupted an Aug. 3 Board of Education meeting with bull horns.

At their Aug. 17 meeting, the Fairfield Board of Education called upon law enforcement to quell the loud protests from residents there to "protect our children and talk about why we shouldn't be wearing masks."

Earlier that day, Lamont had ordered that all K-12 students wear masks in school, regardless of their vaccination status, in an effort to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Shortly before the opening of school, on Aug. 25, parents confronted and heckled Lamont at a back-to-school roundtable attended by state health and education officials in Cheshire.