Beaufort Co. School Board weighs banning critic after chicken feed tossing stunt
During his public comment at the June 27 meeting of the Beaufort School Board, parent David Cook threw eight bags of chicken feed in the direction of the stage where school board members were seated. Four landed in plain sight and four were lost under tables. He wanted to punctuate his criticism of district officials for being “chicken” for not banning some books from school libraries.
The school board’s earlier book decision, spurring Cook’s chicken feed toss, was based on a recommendation from a citizen panel reviewing the books. The group did not ban the books as Cook would have preferred; instead, they instituted grade-level guidelines for some titles and did not apply restrictions to the others on the list.
Board members criticized Cook’s actions as “nasty,” childish and even threatening — and officials are now considering plans to bar him from participating in future public comment periods. The final decision will happen in the coming days.
School Board officials held an executive session Thursday night to review a resolution “prohibiting” David Cook from speaking at in-person meetings for a six-month period, citing the district governance manual’s policy for decorum violations.
As a result of the Thursday resolution, a letter was drafted to be sent to Cook but has yet to be fully authorized for delivery. Board members wrote that the stunt constituted a “breach of respect to the Board” and “an actual act of battery against Board Members.”
Although board members discussed plans to “hand-deliver” the letter to Cook during the next public meeting on July 11, vice-chair and District 4 representative Richard Geier said Saturday that the group hadn’t yet committed to the proposed ban. Board members met Sunday at 6 p.m. to make a final decision, but didn’t. They decided to hold off on the decision until they discuss the proposition again with legal advice during a private executive session Tuesday.
“This is uncharted territory for the board,” Geier said. He couldn’t recall the last time school officials invoked a ban on public comment but said the rule “hadn’t come up” during his five-year tenure as vice-chair.
Until any action is taken, Cook is allowed to speak at the school board meetings including one Tuesday.
“Just for a point of clarification, as of right now we are not banning any individual constituent from coming and speaking at Tuesday’s meeting,” District 11 representative Ingrid Boatright said.
Bag bans and rule reminders
Cook’s controversial actions at the June 27 meeting also spawned a pair of policy changes during Thursday’s executive session, including a ban on all bags at future in-person school board meetings. Proposed by Boatright, the ban comes in response to Cook concealing the chicken feed in a black backpack, contents unknown until he reached in and flung the still-sealed bags in the direction of board members.
Cook’s use of the backpack — and the uncertainty of what was inside — stirred unease among officials and attendees alike. “I take it as a threat,” board member Chloe Gordon previously told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. “We didn’t know what was in the bags.”
The second approved motion, introduced by District 1 representative Earl Campbell, requires a paragraph-long reminder of the school board’s decorum guidelines to be read aloud at the start of every meeting. All seven board members present at Thursday’s meeting voted in favor of the motion.
Both changes will go into effect starting with the board’s July 11 meeting, Geier said.
The board’s proposal to ban Cook from speaking comes as officials consider shortening the three-minute time limit for all public comments. Proposed at the June 13 meeting, the controversial amendments were tabled by an 8-2 vote, set to be reviewed in a future work session.
Since 97 books were temporarily pulled from Beaufort County school libraries in October for potentially containing “adult-rated content,” the district has gradually returned the majority of controversial titles to shelves. Out of the 60 books reviewed so far, the district banned three. The process has garnered national media attention, including from CBS News’ 60 Minutes.
Gordon declined to comment over the phone on Monday. Boatright was not available for immediate comment on the phone Monday.
Cook did not respond to calls for comment after Saturday and Monday.
This story was originally published July 10, 2023 at 9:08 AM.
