Sep 08, 2021

School mask mandate draws a crowd in Rapid City

Posted Sep 08, 2021 4:13 PM

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — The issue of wearing masks at school to protect against COVID-19 drew a standing-room-only, boisterous crowd to a Rapid City school board meeting.

It was a scene that has similarly played out at many local school board meetings around the country.

Parents and others on both sides of the issue demonstrated outside Rapid City High School before the meeting Tuesday night and then packed into the auditorium to weigh in on a mask mandate.

The board voted 5-2 not to imposed a temporary two-week mask mandate.

Several times throughout the meeting the crowd erupted into cheering, booing and heckling, prompting board members to ask for civility.