School board meetings across NC have become heated battlegrounds over masks. Here’s why

Hundreds of people are expected to join U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn on Tuesday outside the Johnston County school board meeting to protest mandatory masks in schools.

Crowds also are attending local school board meetings across North Carolina, which have become heated battlegrounds in recent weeks because of face mask mandates.

And they will likely become even more contentious moving forward.

The reason is a new law that went into effect Aug. 30 that requires school boards to have monthly votes this school year on their masking policies. The mandatory monthly votes are helping fuel opponents of mask requirements who have been organizing people to show up at school board meetings.

“Most boards meet once a month,” Rep. John Torbett, an education leader in the state House, said in August about the new requirement. “It gives them an opportunity to go look back and see what they want to state for the next coming month.”

A large crowd was also at Monday night’s Harnett County meeting, where the school board voted to resume making masks optional starting Oct. 5.

Police have had to remove protesters from some school board meetings.

At an August Buncombe County school board meeting, some parents “overthrew” the current school board and instated themselves into the positions, The Asheville Citizen-Times reported.

The Johnston County school board will decide Tuesday whether to continue its mask requirement in order to comply. Critics of requiring masks hope Cawthorn’s presence will cause the school board to reverse its 4-3 vote in August to mandate that students and teachers wear masks indoors.

The Johnston meeting will be available for people to watch at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vTJLQLqTQM

As of Sept. 14, 112 of the state’s 115 school districts are requiring masks to be worn. At least 59 districts that had planned to make masks optional voted to temporarily switch to requiring them.