NAMPA, Idaho — Editor's note: The attached video mentions the school board will "continue testimony" when they reconvene on Monday, May 17. A district spokesperson says the board has reviewed over 150 written comments and emails sent to each board member individually and will use these comments as they revisit the mask policy, but there will be no public testimony at Monday night's meeting.
On Wednesday night, the Nampa School Board's special meeting on the district's mask policy came to a sudden end after 20 minutes. Now, a new video shows what led up to the abrupt end.
The meeting was held at Skyview High School in Nampa and school board members listened to the public's testimony about the district's current face mask policy.
In the video, at about 7:50 minutes into it, a woman goes up the podium and explains why she believes face masks in schools should still be required, citing the unknowns of the virus and rising case numbers among students.
After the woman asks the school board to keep its current face mask policy, at about 10:55 into the video, the crowd of parents and students begins to loudly boo and jeer the woman.
Before the woman gets back to her seat, an unknown voice bellows from the stage, announcing that the special meeting was now adjourned.
The auditorium then erupts into even louder boos and screams. The video shows the board members running off the stage and behind the curtains with law enforcement officers keeping people away.
For about the next five minutes of the video, people are seeing milling around and a few people yelling over the crowd to get their attention and attempt to rally everyone to stay.
Only three people were able to testify before the special meeting was adjourned. The meeting has yet to be rescheduled.
"For now, there is no change in our Reopening Plan and expectations for masks at school and in other district buildings remain the same. We appreciate your patience, as well as your efforts to support our staff and allow them to focus on their classrooms and end this school year on a positive note," the school district wrote on Facebook.
According to a parent of a Skyview student who hoped that the mask mandate would be lifted, the meeting could have continued but the adults there could have behaved better.
"I would say they weren't 100% civil. Adults probably should've been a little more reserved in some of the emotional outbursts," Antonio Parra told KTVB on Friday. "I didn't feel there was any harm that was going to come to anybody. There was no reason to adjourn that meeting, they really could've stuck it out."
The meeting has been rescheduled for Monday night at 6:30 at Skyview High School in Nampa.