‘No more masks!’: Group protests New Hanover Co. Schools mask mandate

The New Hanover County Board of Education held its February interim meeting on Tuesday evening. Masks weren't on the agenda, but a group wanted to make their voices heard anyway.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The New Hanover County Board of Education held its February interim meeting on Tuesday evening. Masks weren’t on the agenda, but a group wanted to make their voices heard anyway.

A group of parents and students protesting the mask mandate went into the board meeting wearing masks and carrying signs that read “THESE DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD” and “THIS IS CHILD ABUSE” with graphics of children wearing masks. Shortly after the meeting started, the group took their masks off. They briefly went unnoticed, but before the board went into closed session Chair Stephanie Kraybill asked the group to put their masks back on.

The crowd responded, saying things like “you don’t make law.” The board attorney chimed in and said in the past people were escorted out for refusing to comply with the mask policy, to which the crowd replied “escort all these kids out,” because several children were participating in the demonstration. Ultimately, the board moved to go into closed session and didn’t address the crowd further. The group then left, frustrated.

“At least hear what we have to say as parents, as a group. Let us speak for our children. Even talk to the children, let them say what they have to say, let them hear from the children and how they feel about it because it’s about them and how they feel and how they’re doing in school,” parent Jon Fillie said.

The kids at the meeting had a lot to say.

“I feel like the masks, like, really distract me from doing my school work,” 7th grader Laynee Flewwellin said. “I’m constantly having to fix it on my face or my teacher’s telling me to pull my mask up.”

“I kinda have a problem, when I breathe I breathe really loud, so when I’m wearing a mask it’s kind of disrupting,” 5th grader Hudson Cooke said. “I have to take it off, then I get in trouble, so then I put it on…it just keeps on happening.”

If they had the opportunity to speak to the board, they had one thing they wanted to ask.

“Just tell them to take these masks off of us so we can see our friends and our friends can see us as who we are instead of who we are with masks,” 5th grader Tannor Flewwellin said.

After the meeting Board Chair Stephanie Kraybill expressed displeasure with the demonstration.

“It’s kind of disconcerting, you know. Especially with the remarks I made in the beginning that we will treat each other with respect even if you don’t agree,” Kraybill said. “I just find those things….a little uncomfortable.”

As for board member Nelson Beaulieu —

“I think it was just a group of citizens who wanted to come to express their frustrations and they did so in a legal and respectable manner, and you know…that’s democracy,” Beaulieu said.

The board is set to vote on the mask mandate on Wednesday in a special virtual meeting at 1:30 pm. The public can stream the meeting here.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved a policy update that will allow for no less than three “Public Participation Meetings” per year to give parents a chance to speak with the board about things they are concerned about, rather speak to the board at a call to the audience style meeting. Kraybill says she believes these meetings will be much more beneficial if the public’s concerns can be addressed in real-time by school staff.

The board also heard the results of the Title IX survey students took in November. The survey revealed 14% of middle school boys experienced sexual harassment, 36% of middle school females, and 29% of middle school children that identify as gender non-conforming. In high school, 35% of females reported experiencing sexual harassment, 10% of males, and 47% of high school students that identify as gender non-conforming.

Hearing the results of this survey, Nelson Beaulieu says his fight to get a student voice on the school board has been reignited. He hopes to create a solid plan that would allow a student voice on the board sooner rather than later, saying how important it is to hear from someone who is experiencing what is happening inside the schools every day, no matter the issue.

To read the full summary of the results of the Title IX survey, visit here.