Police had to clear the Prince William County School Board meeting on Wednesday night after a discussion about Critical Race Theory became extremely hostile.
Prince William County School Board Chair Babur Lateef said that police and security had to clear the room to prevent a violence.
“The fact that I have to worry about someone getting hurt at a school board meeting is ridiculous, and everyone in the nation should be ashamed of that," Lateef told NBC News. The PWCS School Board room meeting room. Security is now attempting to clear the room. @PWCSNews pic.twitter.com/AZI7woOBZ5
— Jared Foretek (@JaredGM19) September 16, 2021
Lateef asserted that parents who are concerned about CRT being pushed on their children just have a "political agenda.""CRT has now become the new issue that folks believe they can rally around to accomplish a certain political agenda," Lateef added.
The school board chair also claimed that CRT has never been taught in the district.
“We’re not teaching CRT,” Riley O’Casey, an 8th grade social studies teacher told InsideNoVa. “We teach the kids the truth, critical thinking, problem solving, looking at multiple sources.”
Critical Race Theory was not on the board's agenda for the evening, which was meant to be discussing vaccine mandates for staff.
The mandate did pass, and now staff must have full vaccinations by November 1 or submit weekly negative tests.
“Our goals are to reduce the days of quarantining for all faculty, staff and teachers, and we believe this is the best way to do that," Lateef said.
The room was cleared without any violence or incident and no arrests were made.
InsideNoVa reports that a resident told them that a group sang the National Anthem and were confronted by others prior to the room being cleared.
"There were no riots, just angry concerned parents that deserve to be heard yet the school board set us all up and never came out. Videos will be shared and pwc will see the truth! God bless all of you!" the resident said.
