LACONIA – Last week’s school board meeting ushered in sudden changes and limits to public comment period that some audience members say caught them off guard and resulted in shouts, insults and accusations – and prompted the board to call a recess to.
Laconia School Board members walk out, residents hurl insults at chaotic meeting
Published: 6/17/2021 7:23:36 PM
The Laconia School Board meeting devolved into chaos Tuesday as some members of the public tried to confront the board over the issue of critical race theory.
Tuesday’s meeting marked the second time this month that a group of residents from Laconia and neighboring towns have come to press their opposition to critical race theory, an academic concept that seeks to explore how laws have been used in certain instances to maintain racism.
School District Superintendent Steve Tucker said earlier in the month that CRT is not being taught in city schools.
Dawn Johnson lashes out, calls Laconia School Board a disgrace
Dawn Johnson, a state representative and school board member in Laconia.
Laconia School Board member Dawn Johnson, lower left, holds up her smartphone as she tells the board how an anti-Semitic cartoon was posted to her Twitter account. Johnson lashed out at the board Tuesday after it urged her to resign over the matter. Others shown in this screen shot of the board s virtual meeting are members of the public, school administrators, and other board members, including board Chair Heather Lounsbury, middle row, second left. Courtesy
Modified: 12/17/2020 12:11:11 PM
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LACONIA â At an online School Board meeting with roughly 300 viewers and repeated calls for board member Dawn Johnson to step down, residents voiced outrage and loss of trust and faith in Johnson to serve the district after she linked on social media to anti-Semitic material from the neo-Nazi website, the Daily Stormer.
Much of the criticism came from mothers of school children, who blasted Johnson for what they said were attitudes that run counter to the community s values and school district s mission, and shared goals of fighting intolerance in all forms. At the meeting, Johnson, who represents Ward 4 and is a newly-elected state representative, said she has no intention of leaving the board despite resounding voices calling her out for a lack of judgement, conduct not befitting a leader, and her failure to apologize specifically for the offensive content of what she said was mistakenly linked.
Speakers tell Laconia School Board that Dawn Johnson should resign
State Rep. Dawn M. Johnson
Published: 12/16/2020 12:11:55 PM
Nearly 300 people participated in a school board Zoom meeting Tuesday evening and many asked for the resignation of board member Dawn Johnson for posting a link on social media to an article from a neo-Nazi website that included an anti-Semitic cartoon.
Johnson was also at the meeting.
“I have issued an apology,” she said. “It was a mistake. I will not be resigning. I will stay on. The apology was issued. If you have any more comments you can speak to my lawyer.