Unmasked parent prompts Carmel Unified School District to cancel board meeting

CARMEL — As the Carmel Unified School District prepared to open its last regular board meeting of the year for public session Wednesday night, a refusal to wear a mask by one member of the in-person crowd prompted the district to involve law enforcement, and ultimately cancel the meeting altogether.

“This is happening all across our country right now, and now it seems it’s happening right in our backyard,” said Ted Knight, Carmel Unified superintendent. “Our education system is the bedrock of our democracy, but situations like this have me worried about our future.”

Upon reconvening from closed session to a live audience of around 40-50 members of the community, half a dozen students, and a dozen staff members, the Carmel Unified board paused to ask an unmasked parent in the crowd to put on a face covering, Knight explained. The parent refused, citing a medical exemption.

Though they had not met face-to-face ahead of Wednesday’s board meeting, Knight noted he and the district had come in contact with the parent in question before. Since in-person instruction began at Carmel Unified schools in August, the parent had sent repeated messages threatening to sue the district and Knight himself on the grounds of “child abuse” for enforcing an on-campus indoor mask mandate and holding vaccination clinics, Knight said.

Fearful the situation would escalate given the district’s history with the parent, Knight asked the board president to take a recess and sequester in a classroom nearby the Carmel Middle School library, where Wednesday’s board meeting was held. Knight made quick contact with the district’s legal counsel and local law enforcement, which did not arrive until 90 minutes after the board went into recess.

Through that period, the board remained sequestered in a separate room while the public audience waited without knowledge of the situation. Knight refrained from notifying the crowd, again wary of a volatile response from the unmasked parent if news that law enforcement was on its way became known, he said.

Still, tensions were only kept at bay for a limited stretch of time, as the unmasked parent, accompanied by a group of six to seven community members with varying levels of face coverings, became restless. The group sought to enter into the classroom housing board members 55 minutes into the recess, showing signs of heightened hostility, Knight continued.

“They literally broke into the classroom and started screaming obscenities towards us,” he said. “Our staff had to hold the door closed while (the group) tried to pry it open.”

Knight said the agitated group of parents then returned to Carmel Middle School’s library to converse with other members of the live audience and explain why the meeting had been halted.

Three deputies from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office soon arrived on the scene. John Thornburg, a spokesman with the Sheriff’s Office, said that by the time law enforcement arrived, the situation was reported to be relatively calm. Together, the deputies and Knight sought compromise, asking the unmasked parent to voice her public comments from the library’s doorway or put on a face shield, but she again refused, Thornburg continued.

No arrests were made and no one was forcibly removed from Carmel Middle School’s campus, but the district and law enforcement eventually came to the decision that going forward with the meeting was not possible.

With unfinished district business still looming and a requirement by state law to hold a regular board meeting every month, Carmel Unified will hold a make-up meeting outdoors at Carmel Valley High School, 27335 Schulte Rd. Friday at 2 p.m. Someone from the Sheriff’s Office will be in attendance at the meeting to ensure everything remains orderly, Thornburg said. Knight added that he plans to have law enforcement in attendance at Carmel Unified board meetings for the foreseeable future.