A father was arrested at a school meeting and his daughter decided to tell the members of the board what she thought of it. Her father, William Baer, came to the meeting to express concern over a book that is in the library. He was displeased with the vividly described graphic content within its pages. He was arrested for going over his allotted two minute speaking time.
The school is located in Gilford, NH, and the book is titled 19 Minutes. Marina, the man’s daughter, stated that she did not trust the school board and that she never did. The girl further stated that this action proved what happens when the school is faced with a little bit of adversity. Just before turning to leave, Marina looked at the members of the board and told them that she did not feel safe around them.
Children should feel safe within the confines of their schools. Parents who object to something that is going on in the school should feel safe as well. The board may have gone slightly overboard in having a parent arrested in front of his child all for the sake of proving that they had the power to stop him. To top it off, when the girl got up to speak, the board members insisted that she state her address rather than just let her speak about seeing her father arrested.
A school board meeting should not be traumatic for the kids who might be in attendance. Whether the school felt they were right in their decision to have him arrested will not matter to the 14-year-old who must now try to sort through what just happened to her father. The first question many people are asking is why didn’t the board simply have him ejected from the meeting rather than have him handcuffed?
