MIDDLETOWN, Ind. — WARNING: Some of the language in this story may be offensive to some readers.
Another Indiana school board meeting turned hostile over a mask mandate.
Name-calling caused a Shenandoah school board member to go after a parent in the crowd Monday night in Middletown in Henry County.
A Shenandoah parent, Jason Greer, gave a short presentation during public comments about oxygen levels for kids wearing masks that turned into an argument with school board member Alan Troxell, the assistant secretary.
Greer provided his account in a statement to 13News:
"During the board meeting I provided a demonstration with an oxygen meter proving that per OSHA standards our kids are breathing unsafe levels of oxygen due to the mask mandate in our school. Mr. Troxell asked a follow up question. I attempted to answer but he was unwilling to listen. At which point I said, 'You're not even trying to understand.' He said, 'I don't want to listen because you don't make sense.' I replied with, 'You're an idiot.'
At which point he attempted to physically assault me but was restrained by three board members and an officer. I was seated this whole time and showed no aggression. At which point the officers escorted me out but allowed the aggressor to stay. He called me an a------ and a bastard. He then threw a temper tantrum and his papers. He attempted to quit but the board members asked him to sit down and stated 'No, we need you.'
The meeting continued after I was escorted out and he continued to be combative and dismissive to other parents who spoke. His eyes were even closed at one point."
In a video provided to 13News, Greer can be heard calling Troxell an idiot. At that point, Troxell gets up from his chair behind a row of tables and goes toward Greer.
"What? What'd you say? Did you call me an idiot?” Troxell yells toward Greer, who remains seated.
A school resource officer restrained Troxell.
"I'm tired of that stupid bastard," Troxell says in the video.
The officer points toward the door and Greer can be seen getting up and apparently leaving the room.
Troxell returned to his seat but his tirade continued. He stuffed papers in a manila envelope and then threw his envelope on the table, causing other papers on the table to fly into the air.
"I ain't putting up with this s--- no more," said Troxell, appearing that he was about to leave.
"We need you," other people at the board table can be heard saying.
"I'm not going to stay here and be called an idiot by some dumba--," Troxell said.
But Troxell did stay, and the meeting continued. The school board extended the mask mandate in Shenandoah Schools through Jan. 10, 2022.
13News tried, but could not contact Troxell for comment Tuesday. Shenandoah Schools Superintendent Ron Green said action will be taken.
"I have talked with the school board member this morning," Green said. "He is sorry for his actions. Many, many wrongs, and one that we will take care of. He will definitely receive something from our school board president. But the bottom line is the school board member knows that his actions were not representative of membership and representing Shenandoah Schools."
Greer said Troxell also called his wife "ridiculous as she was calmly speaking trying to come up with a resolution." Greer said Troxell has acted in this manner during previous board meetings.
"People say, 'Go to the meetings and show your support, and let your voices be heard,'" Brooke Greer said at her home Tuesday afternoon. "And then you get there, and you're almost attacked by a board member, and you're ridiculed and mocked, and they laugh under their breath. It's not a way that it should be handled."
Jason Greer has contacted the superintendent asking for Troxell's immediate resignation from the school board. If that doesn't happen, Greer said he'll seek legal counsel about the next step.
The superintendent said the mask mandate has helped keep children in school during the pandemic. He said over 600 children were sent home due to positive cases and contact tracing during the first two weeks of school, when masks were optional.
But Brooke Greer said the school system could never provide any information about how many students sent home ever contracted COVID-19. She thinks the mask mandate is overkill and hampers the learning of her two elementary school-aged children.