Two women were removed from the Rockwood School District’s Oct. 21 Board of Education meeting after they began arguing with each other.
The meeting, held at Crestview Middle School in Ballwin, was stopped twice because the women engaged in a screaming match about students wearing masks and the question of whether one of the women was making a veiled threat.
The altercation started when Jessica Risenhoover addressed board members about an alleged incident at one of the district’s schools. She said two parents harassed football players because the students were wearing masks.
“Come up to my kids and harass them, and see what I do to you,” she said.
Deb Michaels then yelled from the audience that Risenhoover was making a threat.
Board president Jaime Bayes stopped the meeting to halt the argument and calm the audience, which had started to yell at each other. “We are not here to talk about specific cases,” she said. “I am saddened tonight by a lot of tone and conversation that has taken place.”
After the brief pause, Risenhoover was allowed to continue to address the board.
Risenhoover was interrupted again by Michaels, and the meeting was stopped again as the two argued.
When another recess was called by Bayes, interim Superintendent Tim Ricker asked police officers and security guards to remove Michaels and Risenhoover from the meeting, and the officers and security guards walked behind the women as they left.
Bayes said she was disappointed by some of the actions during the meeting.
“Unfortunately, tonight things got a little segued, and so that’s disappointing,” she said. “We wouldn’t want our kids to behave that way.”
Michaels, a Eureka resident, would not say in an interview days after the meeting if she had children who attend a district school. She said her removal from the meeting was fair and she spoke up while Risenhoover was speaking because she believed board rules were being broken.
“The speaker was talking about other parents and specific events, which is not allowed,” said Michaels, who said she plans to attend future meetings. “She was disparaging parents, so we, in the audience, were trying to get the board to stop her from doing so. Eventually, they did. But the speaker was also yelling at members of the audience, and we yelled back, which led to the adjournment.”
The Leader was unable to contact Risenhoover before deadline.
Ricker had addressed parental behavior at the Oct. 7 meeting, reading a memorandum from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland about having local law enforcement and the FBI team up to address the issue of harassment against school board members and school employees. Garland wrote the memorandum at the request of the National School Boards Association (NSBA) after that group wrote a letter to President Joe Biden about the issue Sept. 30.
“Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values,” Garland said in the memorandum. “Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.”
At the Oct. 21 meeting, some parents said they were upset that Ricker read the letter.
He said he read it because of threats and uncivil behavior at board meetings.
The Missouri School Boards Association (MSBA) sent a letter Monday, saying it was immediately withdrawing its participation with the NSBA, saying the national organization does not align with its guiding principals of local governance. The letter cites the NSBA’s letter to the White House as an example of the differences between the two organizations.
“We also believe that no school board member or educator should ever have to endure threats of violence or acts of intimidation against themselves or their families for making these difficult decisions,” Melissa Randol, MSBA executive director wrote. “However, attempting to address that issue with federal intervention should not be the first step in most cases, and is antithetical to our long-standing tradition of local control.”
On Oct. 22, the NSBA issued an apology for the Sept. 30 letter.