Lacey Board Of Education Meets In Person Thursday Night

LACEY, NJ — The Lacey Township Board of Education will meet in person on Thursday night at 6 p.m. in Lacey High School's lecture hall.

The meeting will be the first in-person session held since September, when the session was adjourned early after many attendees refused to wear face masks. The Sept. 16 meeting resumed virtually on Sept. 20.

The majority of the board opted to meet virtually in October after board members were “cursed” at during the September session, according to board president Donna McAvoy.

“I love being on this board and I love advocating for all the students in the district. However, the abuse and bullying we put up with at that last meeting was unacceptable and disrespectful,” McAvoy said during the October meeting. “It’s not what we want to teach our students and there were students there who saw us getting cursed at. Us getting chanted at. Us getting yelled at.”

McAvoy acknowledged that holding the meeting virtually is unfortunate for students who deserve to be honored for their achievements in person.

She added that the board plans to hold their November meeting in person, but the meeting will adjourn again if attendees refuse to comply with the mask mandate.

“We are following the governor’s executive order 251 and that’s what we will continue to do. In November we will come out on Thursday night. We will open our meeting. However, if there’s non-compliance once again, we will end the meeting and we will have it virtual,” McAvoy said.

Keep up to date with what's happening in your community by subscribing to your local Patch newsletter here.