Senate candidate Mandel asked to leave Lakota school board meeting

Josh Mandel, the state’s former treasurer who is seeking a U.S. Senate seat, told the Lakota school board members they “are using kids as pawns in a political game.”

“Here in the Lakota district and throughout the state of Ohio, children should not be forced to wear masks,” he said in a video Mandel posted to his Twitter account for his U.S. Senate bid. “On top of that, children should not be forced to learn about to pick a gender or not pick a gender. Boys are boys, girls are girls.”

Before Lakota school board recessed the meeting, which paused the recording of its public meeting, a Butler County Sheriff’s deputy approached the former state official. In the videos posted by Mandel’s campaign Twitter account, he asks the board and then the audience, “Isn’t this a public meeting?” after responding to an inaudible statement by a member of the school board.

After a few moments of questioning whether he was allowed to speak at a public meeting, he continued to speak. Then two deputies asked him to leave at the board’s request.

Lakota Schools spokeswoman Betsy Fuller said they welcome public comments from residents, or their designees, as long as they follow the board policy.

“What happened (Monday) night did not,” she said. “It was a staged event meant to disrupt a public meeting.”

Lakota school board candidate Darbi Boddy was called to speak and she yielded her time to Mandel, but before Mandel approached the microphone, there was a discussion on the dais if that was allowed.

“I’m sorry Mr. Mandel, but she cannot yield time to you,” said Lakota School Board President Kelley Casper, but Mandel ignored that statement and started to speak about his time as Ohio treasurer. The board attempted to interrupt Mandel who continued with his speech.

“Josh, I’m going to have to ask you to stop, please,” Casper said.

Fuller said this “staged event” broke two school board policies.

She said Mandel violated the school board’s policy by bringing his videographer to the meeting without contacting the superintendent ahead of time. Also, Boddy did not introduce Mandel as a designee in accordance with Lakota’s current policy.

During the meeting, Lakota Treasurer Jenni Logan spoke from the dais saying Boddy “yielded” her time and did not formally specify Mandel would speak on her behalf.

Additionally, Lakota School Board’s public comment policy indicates “public participants must be residents of the district or Lakota staff, and have a legitimate interest in the action of the board.”

Mandel posted on Twitter he was “escorted out,” but Fuller said that was not the case.

“Mr. Mandel was not escorted out of the meeting for speaking out against masks ― we have residents who comment on this topic frequently. He was asked to leave because of the clear disruption of a public meeting he caused,” she said.

Since Lakota’s policy shift on masks, other school districts have followed suit, at least for some of its grades, such as Mason City Schools, which has 10,300 students.

Monday’s meeting was held in-person at Lakota Plains Junior School on Princeton Road in Liberty Twp., but also on Zoom.

According to the masking policy decided in August, Lakota students and staff are required to wear masks unless they have an approved exemption, Fuller said.

“In addition to following the guidance of health experts, this decision also helps protect our students and staff from quarantine if they are identified as a close contact per the protocols we must follow from the Butler County General Health District,” she said. “We do not require the COVID vaccine for employees or students.”

Districtwide, as of 3 p.m. Oct. 8, there were 67 students and eight staff members out with COVID-19. Since the school board started, 418 students and 59 staff members have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Statewide, there have been more than 1.47 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 75,500 have been hospitalized. In Butler County, there have been more than 50,200 COVID-19 cases with more than 2,100 hospitalizations.

Mandel is one of several people seeking to succeed U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Cincinnati, who decided to not seek re-election in 2022. Mandel is one of 11 declared candidates seeking the open U.S. Senate seat, including Middletown native and author J.D. Vance, former Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken and Cleveland car dealership owner Bernie Moreno.

We will continue to update this story.