Well…this is pretty fucked up. A teacher in Louisiana was removed from a school board meeting by a cop, handcuffed in the hallway, and taken to jail for raising concerns over the school superintendent’s raise in pay.
I used to live in Lafayette, just down the road. I hope that teacher gets a nice payout, either from the school or the marshall’s office. At least a few years of the superintendant’s raise.
That is totally fucked up. They’re not going to prosecute? For what, freedom of speech?
Having covered a lot of school board meetings in my wasted youth, I can attest that:
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there are a lot of clueless, loudmouthed audience/participants who don’t know when to shut up, even when they’ve had more than enough time to express their angst over an issue.
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there are plenty of clueless, power-mad school board members who run their little fiefdoms with an iron hand.
Hard to tell from the story which (or both) factors were in play. This particular teacher/parent apparently wound up in handcuffs after challenging a cop.
I know, right? Jeez, don’t do me any favors…
Two female school board members are complaining that it’s only women who ever get kicked out of the school board meetings
and
The school board’s offices were closed today after death threats came from as far afield as England, Australia, and South Africa.
From what I understand the superintendant’s raise was already a done deal, and the meeting was just for “comments from the public”.
I like what the Young Turks said. When they planned the meeting, did they think everyone would clap?
If you watch the video in the link, you will see that #1 is absolutely not what happened. That woman made a calm, level-headed statement.
The issue that was claimed was that she was asking questions during a comment session.
Now, if someone phrases something as a question during comments is that grounds for arrest?
All the board had to do was NOT ANSWER!
Therefore they become ~rhetorical questions. She finishes her comments, sits down, life moves on.
And when (apparently) asked to leave the meeting, she left under her own power, without the cop having to lay a hand on her.
But once out in the hall, he handcuffed her and forced her out of the building. It’s hard to imagine any need for that. She had already left the meeting voluntarily. She was not trying to stay in the room, and once she left it, she wasn’t trying to get back in. Whatever problem she may have represented, it didn’t exist anymore by the time the handcuffs came out.
Not to mention, sometimes you need to ask a question first to make sure your comment makes sense.
My local school board (Calvert County, MD) has the same stupid rule. At public meetings, you can make comments, but they won’t answer questions. (No, I have no idea when citizens ARE supposed to be able to question their school board members.)
Not just that, the cop also shoved her to the floor once outside the room in the hallway, hurting her, in order to handcuff her. Then he has the audacity to tell her “stop resisting”, when she clearly ISN’T. This is an audacious display of authoritarianism. “JUST COMPLY”.
They won’t answer questions? The school board meetings? WTF? Like you said, if not then, then WHEN?
See, this is why you need strong teachers’ unions.
Looks like it is time for the school board to update their resume’s. That video will feature prominently when they come up for re-election. That teacher should be the first challenger.
And that cop should be fired.
Except the board was answering the questions, making the whole situation even more mind boggling.
Good grief…that’s just wrong. I have been to school board meetings when they got heated. The board members need to remember who they work for.
Around here, we got rid of a superintendent who pushed gave herself too large a salary. I actually refused to vote for a tax increase to help build a new school, because, the way our system is structured, if you don’t get enough money, it comes out of the superintendent’s salary. (It passed anyways. But still she was gone by the next year.)
hell yes :mad:
Did the cop not read about the cop who handcuffed the nurse?
I mean, the ex-cop who handcuffed the nurse…
The AP has a follow-up story: Louisiana teacher speaks out after arrest at board meeting
Link to Facebook page with video.
Superintendent Moneybags says his life has been really hard since the meeting:
But as far as I know, he’s still taking the money. You’d think it would be easy to read a few thousand emails for 30 grand, but apparently it’s too much to ask of this poor beleaguered public servant.
I’ve noticed that the “resource officer” has not been named in any of the articles I’ve read; has anyone seen him identified?