Parents pack council chambers at Allen ISD meeting to protest the district’s COVID-19 response

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Masks weren’t on the formal agenda for the Allen ISD board of trustees meeting Monday, but that didn’t stop a couple of hundred masked parents from sharing their thoughts about the district’s COVID-19 safety precautions.

The majority of the attendees wore masks and are part of a community group, Allen ISD Parents For Safe In-Person and Virtual School. They’re hoping for a virtual school option until younger children can be vaccinated or for a mask mandate for the unvaccinated, and they have threatened to organize against the district’s upcoming bond election if officials don’t act.

A few dozen unmasked parents and Allen residents attended the meeting to show support for the district’s current COVID-19 policies. Their club and political action committee, We the People Allen, has demonstrated at least once in the last couple of weeks in front of the Allen ISD administration building to express approval of the district’s mask choice and in-person learning policies.

The district first announced in the spring that masks would be optional in the 2021-2022 school year, per an executive order from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

But with the arrival of new, more infectious and deadly variants of COVID-19, few vacant pediatric ICU beds across North Texas and a legal match over masks between the state, schools and counties, many districts have issued mask mandates or offered virtual learning options.

1/4Allen ISD parents gather outside the city’s council chambers for the Allen ISD board of trustees meeting on Monday, August 23. The council chambers were packed, with the majority of parents protesting the district’s pandemic response, as well as a handful of parents supporting current COVID-19 protocol.(Francesca D’Annunzio)

2/4Allen ISD parents gather inside the city’s council chambers for the Allen ISD board of trustees meeting on Monday, August 23. The council chambers were packed, leaving standing room only inside the chambers and the building’s hallway.(Francesca D’Annunzio)

3/4Allen ISD parents gather outside city hall for the Allen ISD board of trustees meeting on Monday, August 23. Before the meeting started, the fire marshal said the building reached capacity and stopped admitting people into city hall. A line of parents and community members, both in support of and protesting current district COVID-19 policies, lined up from the door out to the parking lot.(Francesca D’Annunzio)

4/4A couple hundred parents came to the Allen ISD board meeting to share their thoughts about the district’s COVID-19 policies for the 2021-2022 school year. The building was packed, leaving many protestors on the steps of city hall and in the parking lot.(Francesca D’Annunzio)

At the Allen ISD meeting Monday, none of the board members wore masks, nor did many of the district employees.

Some parents in favor of more rigid public health regulations have said they’ve withdrawn their children from school because of the lack of safety precautions.

Shagufta Vora said she didn’t plan to keep her fifth-grader home, but when the virus began surging and none of her daughter’s teachers wore masks to Meet the Teacher night, she changed course.

Now she hopes the district will, too.

“When the circumstances change, AISD has to be able to pivot and change their plan as well,” Vora said.

Allen ISD’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 21,724 students enrolled the week of Aug. 11 and now shows 21,568, a difference of 156, though it is not known how many of those students withdrew because of COVID-19 concerns.

Parents also sent district leaders a signed letter with hundreds of signatures and met with them last Friday to discuss the COVID-19 protocol.

A standing-room only crowd packed Allen’s city council chambers, where the school board met. Before the meeting, the fire marshal said that the room had reached its capacity of 123 and that he would admit more people when others exited the building.

The line stretched from the door of City Hall to the parking lot, where masked parents with handmade signs gathered. On the stairs leading up to the building, several anti-mask parents stood with their own signs and flags.

1/4Allen ISD parents gather outside the city’s council chambers for the Allen ISD board of trustees meeting on Monday, August 23. The council chambers were packed, with the majority of parents protesting the district’s pandemic response, as well as a handful of parents supporting current COVID-19 protocol.(Francesca D’Annunzio)

2/4Allen ISD parents gather inside the city’s council chambers for the Allen ISD board of trustees meeting on Monday, August 23. The council chambers were packed, leaving standing room only inside the chambers and the building’s hallway.(Francesca D’Annunzio)

3/4Allen ISD parents gather outside city hall for the Allen ISD board of trustees meeting on Monday, August 23. Before the meeting started, the fire marshal said the building reached capacity and stopped admitting people into city hall. A line of parents and community members, both in support of and protesting current district COVID-19 policies, lined up from the door out to the parking lot.(Francesca D’Annunzio)

4/4A couple hundred parents came to the Allen ISD board meeting to share their thoughts about the district’s COVID-19 policies for the 2021-2022 school year. The building was packed, leaving many protestors on the steps of city hall and in the parking lot.(Francesca D’Annunzio)

Sam Abiog, a parent with We the People Allen who has a sophomore at Allen High School, said she came to express approval for the district’s stance on mask choice.

“We’re not taking anybody’s choice away,” she said.

Because the meeting did not have COVID-19 protocol as an agenda item, the district did not take action.

Allen ISD said Friday in a prepared statement that it was debriefing from a meeting with parents about health policies.

“If any changes are made to our guidelines we will be sure to communicate with all of our parents as soon as possible,” the statement read.

But district parents who want other alternatives are planning further action.

Phill Carpenter, one of the group’s organizers, said its next move is to target Allen ISD’s $23.6 million bond proposal on the November ballot.

“They are willfully putting our kids at risk,” Carpenter wrote in a text message. “Our next steps will be to galvanize support against the bonds.”