Parents Removed from Gwinnett County School Board Meeting Over Masks
On August 19, 2021, Gwinnett County Public Schools board chair Everton Blair had multiple parents removed by police from a school-board meeting after they refused to wear masks or stop speaking past their allotted time during public comment on the district's mask mandate.
Several parents, including local candidate Rebecca Yardley, were escorted from the boardroom by Gwinnett County Public Schools police after refusing to comply with the district's mask requirement and after continuing to speak past the two-minute public-comment limit. Video circulated widely on local news and social media. No criminal charges were filed. Parents alleged viewpoint discrimination — that mask-mandate opponents were removed while supporters were not — but no lawsuit was filed. The incident was among those cited in the National School Boards Association's September 2021 letter to the White House.