Loudoun County residents hold their own school board meeting after district changes speaking rules

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Loudoun County residents bypass School Board's new public comment session procedures, hold their own

A group of around 40 Loudoun County, Virginia, residents organized and held their own meeting to protest the local school board over rule changes that would eliminate a public viewing area and limit speaking time before the public panel.

The group gathered in one parent’s backyard Sunday to hold the school board-style assembly in lieu of the official Loudoun County School Board meeting. The Loudon residents made speeches directed toward the school board and other community members and voiced opposition against the school system's positions.

"We will not be silenced," Jessica Mendez, a Loudoun County mother of two elementary students, told Fox News.

A Loudoun County High School AP government teacher, Monica Gill, said in a speech: "I stand against [Loudon County Public Schools’] equity policy and initiative because they are critical race theory in disguise."

The school board will not include a public viewing area open during the public comment portion of its Aug. 10 meeting, LCPS announced Aug. 3. Additionally, only 10 speakers will be admitted in the building at a time, and each would be limited to two minutes. More than 150 speakers had pre-registered as of Tuesday afternoon.

"The school board has made rules for speaking publicly at their meeting that are almost impossible to have a chance to get any reasonable communication with them," Geary Higgins, a former school board member who has had children and grandchildren go through the LCPS system, told Fox News.

According to LCPS, the procedures were revised "in direct response to the threats and unsafe behavior demonstrated at the June 22 School Board meeting. Specifically, ongoing security threats require a response that keeps public commenters, staff and School Board Members safe on school property."

At the June 22 meeting, at least two people were arrested after refusing to leave when parents were cut off from speaking. The meeting was packed, with 259 residents signed up to speak during the public comments session, which focused heavily on a proposed transgender policy.

VIRGINIA'S LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD SILENCES PUBLIC COMMENT AFTER RAUCOUS MEETING, 2 MEN ARRESTED

The Loudoun residents who gathered Sunday are part of Fight for Schools, a grassroots organization dedicated to stopping critical race theory from being implemented in public schools. The group planned to stream the meeting at the same time as the LCPS meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

"We have to have a seat at the table," Fight for Schools Executive Director Ian Prior, who's also a Loudoun County parent, told Fox News.

Joe Mobley, a homeschool parent, told Fox News: "They're trying to suppress speech."

LCPS spokesperson Wayde Byard denied the claim.

"This is not true. Loudoun County Public Schools and the School Board do not endorse viewpoint discrimination of any kind," he told Fox News in an email. "As a matter of fact, Chair Brenda L. Sheridan has expanded citizen comment tonight."

Speakers were initially limited to only one minute.

Loudoun County has become a flash point as parents and the school board clash over a wide range of policies, including critical race theory.

"We don’t want our kids to be turned into social justice warriors," Elicia Brand, a mother of three students, told Fox News at the grassroots school board meeting. "We as parents want to set the tone for the values that our children will see the world with."

Higgins told Fox News: "We’ve dumbed down math. We’ve taken certain books out of circulation and put other sexually explicit books in, we’ve done away with class rank, we’ve done away with advanced diplomas – I mean all the things that create a great school system have been done away with or are in the process."

Parents had previously called attention to optional books with sexual and violent language. A review committee recommended that one be pulled from middle schools, but both could remain in high schools.

The Fight for Schools group is working to recall six of the school board members.