The 4-1-1 on February 1 Irvine Unified Board of Education Meeting: Disrupted By Peaceful Civil Disobedience

Emergency Recess at 6:40, Adjournment at 10:16 for non compliance with Mask Mandate

The February 1, 2022 Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) Board of Education Meeting did not go quite as the Board of Education had planned…..

I typically arrive at the location for the meetings 15-20 minutes ahead of the 6:30pm start time so that I’m able to secure a seat, chat with other early arrivers, and fill out/submit the blue public comment request form. The blue form must be filled out in order for members of the audience to make public comments. The blue form is a formality that enables the meeting facilitator and recording secretary to document the names of the individuals that shared public comments and the specific topic(s) their comments were about. If you have ever made public comments at an IUSD Board of Education Meeting, your name is on record in the meeting minutes for the meeting that you spoke at. When I arrived just before 6:15 on Tuesday February 1, I noticed there were 2 (maybe 3) Irvine Police SUVs parked in the parking lot. This prompted an “uh oh” for me and my instincts were telling me something wasn’t quite right. Unless the Irvine Police are on the agenda to speak or give a presentation, they typically are not present at the Board of Education Meetings. In the 8 months I have been attending in person, the Irvine Police have only been present at 2 meetings. They were present at the September meeting- I assume this was a precautionary measure based on video footage of contentious board meetings that had recently taken place across the nation (ie: Loudon County Virginia). The second time they were present was in December to introduce the new Irvine Police Chief. The presence of Irvine Police made me wonder if they were anticipating a potential disruption to the February 1 meeting. The patrol cars were empty as the officers were inside the building near the entrance and motioned for my mom and me to enter. My legal advisor and founder of The Gavel Project arrived and joined my mom and me. 5 of us attending the meeting that night had agreed, in advance, that we would not comply with the mask requirement even though we knew there was risk of being arrested for non compliance. We were acting in solidarity and planned to remain peaceful and civil throughout. I had hoped that the mandate wouldn’t be stringently enforced as it wasn’t for the January Board of Education meeting even though it was in effect at that time. This meeting was different.

Immediately after the meeting was called to order by Board of Education President Ira Glasky, a reminder was made to all in attendance that California Department of Public Health and the Orange County Healthcare Agency require that masks be worn in all indoor settings and especially “in locations where we have students.” The president asked that everyone in the audience “Please put on a mask. There are masks at the table if you do not have one. If you don’t have a mask on, at some point I will ask you to leave. I do want to hear what everyone has to say so I do please request that you put on a mask.” Five of us remained unmasked (as agreed) in spite of the announcement plus an additional two in attendance. The meeting continued. Public Agenda items 4-9 were covered (Call to order, Pledge of allegiance, report of closed session discussion, student discipline, approval of minutes, adoption of agenda).

At the 8 minute 35 second mark, right before Public Comments, Board President Ira Glasky remarked “ I’m going to go ahead and make my comment again. I need everyone in the audience to put a mask on. Once again, I very much want to hear what you have to say as I think most folks are here for public comment. We do require on all our campuses whether it is in the classroom, whether it’s in school or whether it’s in the district office to wear a mask.” We still did not comply. At the 8 minute 57 second mark, Board member Sharon Wallin remarked “I’m feeling a little uncomfortable.” Ira said he understood and said that he was going to call a “5 minute recess and ask folks to put on a mask…” My legal advisor cordially responded to the demand issued by Ira Glasky stating that we all have the legal right to remain in the building without a mask. Ira responded “Sir that is not how we handle public comments here.” The 5 minute recess ensued at the 9 minute 27 second mark and members of the Board except for Cyril Yu exited the room and convened in the adjacent room shielded from those opting not to comply with the mask requirement. A staff member came around with masks and strongly encouraged us to put them on so that the meeting could reconvene. We politely refused. The staff member with Irvine Police Assistance said that we would need to leave and we would be escorted out of the building. 4 of us peacefully exited the building (including my legal advisor). 1 remained in the building and did not put on a mask. He filmed everything on Instagram live. The remainder of those in attendance who hadn’t worn masks put them on. Irvine Police were very cordial in escorting us out and were peaceful and completely reasonable throughout this whole experience. I fully support Irvine Police and tremendously appreciate the amazing job they do in keeping our community safe. I will always treat our Police force with respect and courtesy. Soon after we were escorted out some additional police officers showed up on site including a police supervisor. 3 of us decided to wait outside the building until approximately 8:30pm to see if the meeting would reconvene and if we’d be given the opportunity to share our public comments without putting masks on. That opportunity never came. Everything inside remained completely peaceful. Those of us that hung around outside tuned into the Instagram Live to hear what was going on inside. There was some friendly conversation off and on but other than that it was pretty blah with many moments of silence interspersed. At 8:20 pm, I re-entered the building unmasked to talk with the Police Officers present. There was no indication that an arrest was going to be made and they advised that there may not be a police report issued. I thanked them for their service, let them know that I was leaving for the night and I exited the building. I staid tuned into the Instagram live after I left. The meeting remained in recess for more than 3 hours and 45 minutes. The Police (at least 3 officers) were on site for the duration and remained friendly and cordial throughout. The one individual inside without a mask remained unmasked the whole time. After the 3 hour and 46 minute “recess” Ira Glasky returned to the room and adjourned the meeting at 10:16pm.

No arrests were made. No police reports were issued. No public comments were heard. No agenda items beyond #9 (Adoption of the Agenda) were heard. The meeting has yet to be rescheduled. The next regularly scheduled Board of Education Meeting is on February 15.

Rather than saving my public comments for the February 15 meeting, I decided to record them and share them on Social media. You can find the video of my Public Comments here.

The document from the Medical Board Of California that I reference in my comments is below.

I don’t have any regrets about my decision to not comply with the mask mandate. I’m grateful that I found like minded individuals that stood in solidarity with me. Some might criticize me for being disrespectful by not complying. If that’s how you see it, I fully respect that. For me, when I realized how we were being lied to by our public health officials over two years ago, the line in the sand was drawn. In my opinion, showing respect towards our public health officials in the form of compliance with their mandates would be doing more harm than good. Those who know me and know my true character fully understand the reason why I’m doing what I have to do. I am motivated by love for my family, love for our youth, love for our country and love for our freedoms. Enough is enough! You can’t comply your way out of tyranny. If we can hold the non compliance line here in Irvine- the line can be held anywhere in this state. Please stay strong Irvine parents! Let’s end these mandates once and for all. Freedom of choice for all! Thanks for tuning in.