A Texas school district sent its own armed agents to the homes of two community members to arrest them after they spoke out against alleged school board corruption, reports say.
Jeremy Story, a pastor, and Dustin Clark, a retired Army captain, had criticzed the Round Rock Independent School District school board’s “alleged corruption and school officials’ hostility toward parents.”
In August, while “produc[ing] evidence that the board had covered up an alleged assault by the superintendent, Hafedh Azaiez, against a mistress,” Story, a minister, was cut off mid-sentence as Azaiez ordered armed officers to remove him from the premises, according to Chronicles Magazine.
Independent journalist Christopher Rufo noted that school district has “a three-layer chain of command, patrol units, school resource officers, a detective, and a K-9 unit.” A few days after Clark was forcibly removed from school board premises, the school district “sent police officers to the homes of both men [Story and Clark], arrested them, and put them in jail on charges of 'disorderly conduct with intent to disrupt a meeting.' ” They were released the next morning.
In a following meeting, parents had spoken out against the district’s mask mandate. The school board “locked the majority of parents out of the room, preventing them from speaking.” According to Rufo, while the parents were asking the school board to open the room for public comment on a major policy item, “school board president Amy Weir directed officers to remove Clark from school property.”
“As he was dragged out by two officers, Clark shouted to the audience: 'It’s an open meeting! Shame on you. Communist! Communist! Let the public in!' ” Rufo said.
"The battle lines are clear: on one side, the Biden administration, public school bureaucrats, and their armed agents; on the other, parents and families who oppose school closures, mask mandates, critical race theory and corruption. Public school officials have demonstrated a willingness to use police power to silence and intimidate their opponents," Rufo said.
Story and Clark believe what they have gone through has implications beyond their community. Story noted: “This isn’t just about Dustin [Clark] and me. It is about everyone. If they can come for us and get away with it, school boards nationwide will be emboldened to come for you.”
We live in a very normal country where school boards can send cops to your house to arrest you and the FBI views parents as terrorists https://t.co/O3SSr2XNiP
— Pedro L. Gonzalez (@emeriticus) November 17, 2021
Free Press International
