Tensions flare at Rochester School Committee meeting

ROCHESTER  — Shouting amongst attendees brought the Rochester School Committee to a temporary halt as conflict erupted over the Rochester Memorial School’s bathroom policy. 

Arguments broke out amongst the crowd as parent Luis Rivera finished his comments during public policy at the Thursday, Nov. 12 meeting.

Since May Rivera has criticized the School Committee and administrators for allowing transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. 

He filed a federal Title IX complaint against the school alleging a transgender student pushed into the stall his daughter was using. Since then, he and supporters have expressed their complaints during School Committee meetings. 

Other residents have attended meetings to show their support for the committee and administration. 

While there has been friction between the two sides, things got heated at the Thursday evening meeting. 

The committee had introduced a digital timer to enforce a 3-minute time limit each speaker is held to during public comment. As the seconds ticked down during Rivera’s comments, he threw down the paper he was reading from and directly addressed the committee. 

“I don’t even want to read from this anymore because it’s nonsense that I’m here again,” he said.

He said he’s upset administrators have pointed to Department of Elementary and Secondary Education guidance preventing schools from excluding students from the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity but claims the school doesn’t follow Title IX regulations. 

The timer beeped, and people began shouting at him to stop talking as his time was up. He responded that “my daughter’s worth more than your three minutes, I don’t care about that clock,” and moved back to his seat. 

Meanwhile,another fight flared between a woman who had been insistently crinkling her plastic water bottle during Rivera’s comments and a man insisting she stop making noise. 

Yelling broke out throughout the crowd, with several groups of people yelling at each other. Police Sergeant Connor Leddin approached the man and woman arguing as the man attempted to slap the water bottle out of the woman’s hands. 

“If we can act like adults, we can all sit here and listen and let whoever’s up there speaking speak. I shouldn’t have to get involved,” he said. 

His intervention quelled the fighting, and Chair Kate Duggan announced the committee would take a 10-minute recess before returning to public comment. 

As the meeting resumed, Duggan told the audience anyone who couldn’t control themself during the meeting would be asked to leave and escorted off the premises by police. The rest of the meeting proceeded without interruption.