Influx Of Unmasked Visitors Halts Enfield School Board Meeting

ENFIELD, CT — At least 20 unmasked people gathered inside the Council Chambers at town hall for a Board of Education meeting Tuesday night, despite a town-wide mask mandate, which prompted the board chair to abruptly adjourn the meeting after just three minutes.

Following the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call, chair Tina LeBlanc read the following statement:

"To the parents, guardians, students, and staff of Enfield public schools: the Board of Education has an obligation to conduct meetings in accordance with board business. These meetings help to inform the families and town residents of happenings in our school community. The government process includes policies and budget, which are both on the agenda tonight. We also have an obligation to hold law-abiding meetings.

We always have an obligation to follow the law; however, we are not in a position to enforce the law. The law I am speaking of is the Governor’s Executive Order dated Sept. 30, 2021: ‘whereas municipalities are authorized to institute mask mandates in indoor settings regardless of vaccination status through February 15, 2022’.

We are in the midst of a public health crisis, thus we are following the mask mandate, and there are audience and staff members with compromised immune systems sitting around right now. We are simply following the town’s orders.

We have a few options: 1, we can move these meetings to school buildings, where masks are also required; however, making them E-TV accessible would be hard. The board has an obligation to conduct these meetings within the law, for the health and safety of its board members, staff and audiences. As a governing body, we want to be as transparent as possible. Therefore, tonight’s meeting, and future meetings, will be remote until further notice."

Acting Town Manager Ellen Zoppo-Sassu recently re-instituted the town’s mask mandate for municipal buildings, which requires all people, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks while inside public buildings.

Many of the people who came into the chambers sans masks had been denied access to a meeting two weeks earlier, spending that time in the corridor outside the meeting room.

"Before the meeting, I offered them a chance to comply, and they refused," LeBlanc told Patch Wednesday morning.

LeBlanc said until Gov. Ned Lamont's executive order expires on Feb. 15, Board of Education meetings will be conducted remotely. She hopes to have Tuesday night's meeting rescheduled possibly as early as Thursday.

"It can't be Wednesday due to requiring 24 hours notice to post the agenda," she said.

Despite the mask mandate being out of the purview of the school board, a number of residents have spoken against it during public communication at recent meetings.

Former school board member Peter Jonaitis, an outspoken critic of the policy, said, "Most of the crowd would not put their masks on. A little civil protest. Meeting over. This new acting town manager needs to go. Cowardliness move by the chairperson."

Jonaitis said the maskless residents sat together on one side of the chamber. Following adjournment, a few people directed heated comments at board members, Superintendent Chris Drezek and Assistant Superintendent Andy Longey.

Social media was buzzing late Tuesday night, with most commenters expressing their views that complaints about the mask mandate at school board meetings merely wastes time, when responsibility for the policy is in the hands of the town manager.

Nathaniel Sinnott wrote, "Unfortunately, people seem to be jamming up the BOE with pointless debate, rather than letting them do their jobs for our schools. Let them do the work that they’ve been elected to do, stop wasting everyone’s time, and allow for the health and safety of both board members AND attendees, and the meetings might move back to in-person. The chairwoman made a tough decision that she was unfortunately forced to make, in order to protect people’s health and safety and allow the board to actually get things done. I’m sure she knew the backlash she would receive, and being able to make that decision in spite of it DEFINITELY wasn’t cowardice."

"The BOE meetings are not the place to complain about the mask mandate," Wendy Veilleux wrote. "Go complain to the town manager and town council who actually have some say in whether or not there is a mask mandate in town buildings."

Lucinda Hallowell wrote, "As many times as the BOE and superintendent have told all of us watching (online or in person) they do not have any control over the mask mandate in school, people continue to show up to protest the mask mandate at the Board of Education meetings. You don’t want your child wearing a mask, your opinion matters, but you are taking your argument to the incorrect place. Step out of your shell and your comfort zone and take your opinions to a more appropriate platform (i.e., the governor, the President of the United States, our state rep, etc.). Let the BOE get back to their most important job, the education of our children. Masked or unmasked, that is what they go to school for. This board cannot perform their responsibilities because it has become such a “mask / no mask” circus."

Several anti-mask commenters mentioned the presence of police officers at the last several meetings. Chief Alaric Fox said, "This is not something that just started," citing police presence at numerous town meetings in past years.

"We have responded when requested, by the Board of Education or town council, if there is a concern about safety," Fox told Patch. "My personnel have been directed to use discretion on enforcement, and to focus on education, de-escalation and mediation. No one has been arrested or ticketed."

In response to speculation about the high cost of paying overtime to officers, Fox said, "The vast majority of occasions have been assigned with existing resources."

The meeting may be viewed on YouTube here.