Monday, Nov. 22, 2021 | 12:47 p.m.
Opponents of Clark County School District COVID-19 mask and vaccine policies took their message to school board President Linda Cavazos’ house Sunday.
Cavazos said today that she might make a statement later in the day. Allies have rallied around her.
Photos and video clips posted on social media showed a group of about 30 to 40 people, including children, standing on the sidewalk and street outside Cavazos’ Henderson home as the sun set.
The images show people with U.S., Confederate and Gadsden flags, plus banners and signs. In one video, the group calls out “resign,” “shame on you,” “unmask the kids” and “I can't breathe.”
In the same clip, a person near the camera talks about where to go next — either to Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom’s midtown home or another official’s home in Henderson.
Later videos showed protesters outside Segerblom’s house and Commissioner Jim Gibson’s house in Henderson. In the Gibson clip, a person clearly gives the address.
A spokesman for the Clark County School District Police Department said officers in two unmarked cars kept an eye on the demonstration at Cavazos’ home, which went on from about 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Trustee Katie Williams, who frequently clashes with Cavazos and has been direct in her opposition to masks and vaccines, distanced herself from the demonstration.
“Let me be clear,” she tweeted Sunday evening. “While I will always support the First Amendment and the right to peaceably assemble. I not now, nor have I ever, supported protesting outside of a personal residence of any public figure. Nor have I ever directed individuals to do so.”
The school board voted earlier this fall to require COVID-19 vaccinations for district staff, which Cavazos said at the time led to her receiving death threats and “very disturbing images.” The staff vaccine requirement is not yet in effect.
Mask and vaccine opponents consistently attend school board meetings, where security has tightened during the pandemic. Whether at the school board’s headquarters on Flamingo Road or at the Clark County government center downtown, where the trustees also sometimes meet, meeting attendees must pass through airport-style security, and uniformed police and private security guards patrol the audience and parking lot. Audience members are regularly ejected for being disruptive.
