After heated discussions over masks and capacity limits became disruptive at last week’s Round Rock ISD board meeting, the district made a change to better accommodate the anticipated crowd expected at Wednesday’s meeting.
The meeting will be held at the Raymond E. Hartfield Performing Arts Center on September 22nd at 6 p.m.
At Wednesday’s board meeting, the board will discuss and take action on the implementation of a mask matrix and take action regarding resolutions to censure two trustees, Mary Bone and Danielle Weston.
“Shame on you! Communists! Communists! Let the public in,” yelled Dustin Clark at RRISD’S last board meeting.
Last week’s Round Rock ISD board meeting turned disruptive after social distancing efforts were put in place by the district.
“We did go back to limiting seating so that we could space chairs 6 feet apart we also set up an overflow area. It’s a big open area. We have a large projector screen and the meeting was streamed in real time there,” said Jenny LaCoste-Caputo, Chief of Public Affairs and Communications for RRISD.
Trustees Mary Bone and Danielle Weston left the meeting and now an item to censure them is on Wednesday's agenda.
“I just want to say that due to the hostility directed to the public tonight, and my concerns about violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act, this is a failure of leadership and I am leaving. This is a failure of leadership,” Weston said.
After the disruptions, the mask matrix discussion was moved to Wednesday.
“Our superintendent is proposing a mask matrix, so rather than having to sort of make decisions every couple of weeks and bring it back to the board, it becomes an if, then scenario. So, it ties the mask requirement to the different risk phases we’re currently in, in Williamson and Travis County. So, what he is proposing would keep the mask requirement in place while we’re in a red or orange phase,” Caputo said.
CBS Austin spoke to parents ahead of Wednesday’s meeting.
I'm very concerned about the safety of the people who will be there trying to keep their kids safe,” said a Round Rock ISD parent and teacher.
“I think a lot of parents on both sides are pretty fearful. I know that the parents I speak to on a regular basis fear for arrest, restraint, being shut down,” said RRISD parent Michelle Evans.
This comes after Dustin Clark and Jeremy Story were arrested by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office after being disruptive at past meetings, leaving parents concerned.
“The arrests were actually made by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office. Our RRISD police gave information to the county attorney regarding a couple different instances. One was an incident that did happen at last week’s meeting. The other had to do with instances that happened at previous meetings that they felt were concerning and so an arrest warrant was issued, and that arrest was carried out by WCSO,” Caputo said.
The district said there will be a police presence at tomorrow's meeting like there is at every meeting.
CBS Austin reached out to each of the Round Rock ISD Board of trustees for interviews. Only one board member responded to our email but did not agree to do an interview.