KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A testy exchange broke out at the start of Wednesday night's Kearney School Board meeting as a patron accused the board president of not paying attention to her comments.
The meeting began with a public comment session where speakers were allowed three minutes to share their opinions with the seven-member board.
Quickly, the board learned of strong opposition to a mask mandate for the upcoming school year as speakers told the board the decision should be made by parents.
Masks are optional, per the current district policy.
However, no decision was made Wednesday night on whether masks would be required for all students, teachers and staff.
The fourth speaker of the night made it clear she felt parents should be making the masking decision and not the district.
Near the end of her time at the podium, the woman got into an angry exchange with Mark Kelly, the board president.
She accused Kelly of paying more attention to the timing clock than her comments.
That didn't sit well with Kelly, and at one point he threatened to close the meeting after people in the audience began to offer unsolicited comments.
Order was restored, and a district official went over the current COVID-19 plan.
At the end of the meeting, Kelly thanked people for coming and said he appreciated having people come to school board meetings.
