A group in Harford County is upset about the way the school board is doing things.
Harford County school board members released a YouTube video explaining their meetings were going to be virtual again after controversy during their in-person meeting in August.
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A couple dozen people from the group Uniting Harford County showed up in a lot next to the school board building. They want to oust all the current members of the school board and form their own.
“I’m mad that these cowardly board of education won’t come out here and talk to us. Won’t let us in the room because they’re afraid. Well, you better be afraid because you’re going to lose your little positions,” said someone who identified themselves as Josie.
The strong words came from a crowd that gathered outside the Harford County school board meeting Monday night.
“It’s really about just doing a factory reset on our board. Our board is simply upside down. People on the board should be listening to concerned parents. That board should be instructing the superintendent and right now, it’s working in the reverse,” Uniting Harford County member Benjamin Heiser said.
Uniting Harford County takes exception to several things, including the mask mandate in schools.
“This is before superintendents met with the state or anything like that, they just basically refused to put it to a vote, and they could’ve — they could’ve put it to a vote and said, ‘Superintendent, I’m sorry, we’re not going to deal with the masks.’ They could’ve gone the Carroll County route and they decided not to,” Heiser said.
In response, the school system sent 11 News the letter that went home to parents about the mask mandate stating they took recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Maryland Department of Health into account when implementing the indoor mask policy.
Uniting Harford County would also like to see school board meetings in person again.
“I would like them to open up the meetings to everybody that would like to attend. They’re using the COVID mandates as an excuse not to hear everybody,” Harford County parent Sandra Madigan said.
Uniting Harford County filmed the speeches Monday night and said they will pass it all on to the county council.
