On Tuesday evening, the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) school board meeting — the last of this academic year — erupted into a chaotic scene as police arrested two attendees.
One person was issued a summons for trespassing after refusing to leave the property while another attendee was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, WJLA reported.
With more than 200 parents, students, and other concerned Americans signed up to speak on both sides, the crowd was fired up over transgender policy and Critical Race Theory (CRT) — an issue in which LCPS has been ground zero.
“We want our kids to receive an education. Nothing more, nothing less,” one parent said, pleading against the progressive politics of the school board.
Soon after, public commenting was unanimously ended by the school board and the event was declared an unlawful assembly after the crowd became more boisterous, videos posted by a Reuters reporter showed.
The Loudoun County sheriff’s office declared the school board meeting an unlawful assembly. Everyone told to get out or will be trespassing. Two arrests made #CriticalRaceTheory pic.twitter.com/23Cojtczvy
— Gabriella Borter (@gabriellaborter) June 22, 2021
Two arrests made at the Loudoun County, Virginia school board meeting after it was declared an unlawful assembly and some parents here to protest against critical race theory and a transgender policy refused to leave right away #CriticalRaceTheory pic.twitter.com/dsZDrqJ0Gp
— Gabriella Borter (@gabriellaborter) June 22, 2021
At the heart of the contentious debate — besides CRT, of course — is policy proposal 8040, in which transgender students would be given license to use the bathroom of their gender identity and teachers would be pushed to use a student’s preferred pronouns.
WJLA also reported that the next school board meeting will take place on August 10.