For the second week in a row, parents opposed to Louisiana’s mask mandate for students showed up at the St. Tammany Parish School Board meeting.
Unlike last week, the crowd yesterday also featured several parents supporting the mask mandate.
Board members voted to ask the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to let parents choose whether to send their children to school with masks. St. Tammany Superintendent Frank Jabbia said the local school system was waiting for direction from the state board, which plans to discuss the issue Aug. 18 in Baton Rouge. Jabbia said if BESE adopts a policy change, a special meeting of the St. Tammany board will be held.
It was Gov. John Bel Edwards who issued the mask mandate that includes schools. Attorney General Jeff Landry says the authority over school masks rests with BESE.
A crowd of about 60 people gathered outside the School Board meeting at Robert Brooks Educational Center in Slidell.
Apparently a death threat was made against an unnamed school board member earlier in the day through a phone call to the school system’s central office in Covington. System officials reported the threat to the Covington Police Department.
Last night Slidell police officers urged those on hand to remain civil.
