SAN ANTONIO – A woman who attended a Northside Independent School District board meeting was seen being carried out by two officers as she recorded the incident.
A video posted on Facebook captured the ordeal, which NISD spokesman Barry Perez said happened prior to the board of trustees’ regular meeting on Tuesday night.
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The woman arrived in compliance with the district’s mask mandate, which was approved last week, but removed her face covering before the meeting started, Perez said.
“The individual was asked by district officials, and then by NISD police, to place her mask back on. The individual refused and then when asked to leave, also refused,” he said in an email to KSAT. “Northside ISD police officers did then lift her chair and carried it, with her still seated, outside of the room.”
The Facebook video showed a few attendees at the meeting disagreeing with the district’s decision to remove her. One man tried to block the officers as they carried her out, the video showed.
Another image posted on social media showed an officer escorting a man in the parking lot.
Citizens spoke for about 45 minutes during the meeting, some shouting at board members in disagreement with the mask mandate.
One parent commented that “forcing kids to wear masks against their will is child abuse.”
The 2021-22 school year at NISD began on Monday with all in-person learning and a mask mandate in effect.
All students, staff and visitors must wear face coverings indoors to help curb the spread of COVID-19, the board decided last week.
The district previously said they would “strongly encourage” face coverings amid a volley of court rulings on the legality of mask mandates, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has banned schools and local governments from issuing such requirements.
An injunction, granted to Bexar County by 57th Civil District Court Judge Toni Arteaga on Aug. 16, allows masks to be required in Bexar County public schools. A directive issued by San Antonio’s Metropolitan Health District that mandates masks in Bexar County is still in effect.
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