A Sunday school teacher was arrested after refusing to wear a mask Thursday night at a school board meeting in Plaistow, New Hampshire.
Kathleen Bossi was with a group of people who did not wear facial coverings inside the Timberlane Performing Arts Center, which is against school policy.
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What started as a conversation about the First Amendment quickly turned into a scuffle with police as the group of unmasked people entered the auditorium to speak their minds.
"You are violating my rights right now," Bossi told the arresting officer. "You are remiss."
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Danville mom Bonnie Bowley was part of the group calling for an end to the district's mask mandate for kids.
"I am not an emotional person, and I was very emotional, I was very upset," Bowley said in an interview Friday. "We are members of the public, just going to speak at a school board meeting, it was very surreal."
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School board member Shawn O'Neil says police were called ahead of Thursday's meeting in anticipation of protests against the mask requirements, which he doesn't support, either.
"There are no exemptions to wearing a mask, no entry, no services," he said in a phone interview. "We have kids with medical conditions and there's zero accommodations for that — it's unreal."
Police say Bossi was arrested for disorderly conduct. Bowley says Bossi is her kids' Sunday school teacher.
"My kids are crying, they're freaked out," she said. "I was mad, so I was screaming."
Minutes later, the school board chair moved the meeting to Zoom and sent everyone home.
"We're being silenced, just silenced," Bowley said. "That should not happen in Plaistow, New Hampshire."
School Board Chairwoman Kim Farah didn't return NBC10 Boston's requests for comment.
Police deferred all questions to the Timberlane School District, but the superintendent didn't call us back, either.
