A man stood in silence at the Manatee school board meeting. Police made him leave

Arthur Huggins stood up to relieve his aching back during Tuesday’s school board meeting. Minutes later, he was flanked by a police officer and a district official.

Paul Damico, chief of safety and security for the school district, asked Huggins to sit down at about 9:30 p.m., nearly four hours into the school board meeting. Huggins was sitting in the back row when he decided to stand up and continue watching the meeting.

“A week ago I couldn’t even walk,” Huggins said in a follow-up interview Wednesday. “I was using crutches just to get the pressure off my back and get around. It’s actually getting better, but with me sitting that long it started to irritate me, so I got up. I was trying to explain that to him.”

The school board seemed unaware or unconcerned that Huggins was standing in silence. But when he refused to sit down, Damico stormed toward the exit, slammed open the door and yelled into the hallway, catching the attention of everyone in the board room.

Board members were discussing the renovation of Gene Witt Elementary School when the meeting came to a halt. Board chairman Dave Miner stopped mid-sentence as the door swung open, shaking a camera that was livestreaming their conversation.

“I just kicked somebody out,” Damico said in the hallway, prompting a Bradenton police officer to enter the board chambers.

Several audience members protested the removal, noting that Huggins suffered from back ailments.

“So do I,” Damico responded, trailing behind the officer and Huggins, who quietly left the room.

The board chairman then directed his attention to the audience members who spoke out, telling them to “go outside right now,” citing a disruption to the meeting.

In a prepared statement sent on Wednesday afternoon, district attorney Mitchell Teitelbaum said that Damico was justified, pointing to security measures rolled out in August.

“Everyone allowed in the board room must have a seat,” the notice read.

“Those measures were initiated because previous board meetings had become over-crowded with people standing in the aisles and blocking the walkways, which was disruptive to school board proceedings,” Teitelbaum wrote.

Approximately three people sat behind Huggins, and the room was largely empty on Tuesday night. In his response on Wednesday afternoon, Teitelbaum said Huggins violated the “remain seated protocol,” and that he blocked the view of other guests.

“He was given the option to take a seat in the board room, or to exit the board room and watch the proceedings on a television set in the lobby of the School Support Center,” the attorney said. “Mr. Huggins’ refusal to accept either reasonable request resulted in a disturbance that disrupted the school board meeting.”

In the follow-up interview, Huggins said he leaned against the wall on Tuesday night, a conscious effort to not block the view of other guests. He also disputed the statement that Damico offered him a spot in the lobby.

“I don’t think the man talked to me for 15 or 20 seconds,” Huggins said.

Describing his conversation with police officers and district officials in the hallway, he said that Damico placed responsibility on Superintendent Cynthia Saunders, claiming that she was unhappy with Huggins standing in the background.

If accurate, it’s unclear whether Saunders contacted Damico by email, text message or another form of communication as she sat on the board dais.

“I said, ‘I never saw anyone indicate anything to you,’ and he said, ‘Well, it came straight from the superintendent,’” Huggins said, recounting his hallway discussion with Damico.

School officials were quick to dispute his claim. Saunders was fully engaged in the board conversation, and she was unaware that Huggins was standing in the room, according to a response from district spokesman Mike Barber.

“Mr. Damico says it’s completely untrue that a directive came from Ms. Saunders,” Barber said.

Ejections have become a usual occurrence at Manatee County School Board meetings since late July, when Lincoln Memorial Academy, a school that primarily serves minority students, was taken over by the school board.

Though the board cited issues with the charter school’s finances and leadership, its supporters feel the move was an attack on their community. A handful of supporters have showed up to every school board meeting since the takeover of Lincoln Memorial.

One of the school’s most vocal supporters is Rodney Jones, a community activist and former leader of the Manatee NAACP. Police arrested Jones and charged him with disturbing a school assembly at the meeting on Oct. 22, after he spoke out from the audience and protested the restriction on someone’s public comment.

“I watch them with other people that speak out, and they’re never treated that way,” Huggins said on Wednesday. “I’ve seen them get warnings, but the only people I see get kicked out since I’ve been there have been blacks. It becomes suspicious.”

Chairman Miner has addressed the notion that board actions were ill-intended or racially motivated, especially when it came to the takeover of Lincoln Memorial, and the need to maintain orderly meetings.

“Statements and accusations that, somehow, members of this board or the board itself was out to maliciously do things for nefarious reasons, be it racial or whatever, there is no truth to that,” he said in July, after the school takeover.

Miner ordered the previous ejections, but Tuesday marked a venture into new territory, in which district officials share the same power as the school board’s chairman. According to Florida Statute 1001.372, the law governing school board meetings, a “presiding officer” has authority to remove disruptive citizens.

In Manatee, the board bylaws define “presiding officer” as the school board’s chairman, but Tuesday’s ejection was carried out by Damico, the chief of safety and security.

In his response on Wednesday, the district attorney said Damico was carrying out his duties by “addressing violations of security protocol.”

The statute also grants authority to remove “any person interfering with the expeditious or orderly process” of school board meetings. Some felt that Huggins’ actions — standing quietly near the back row — were far from a disruption.

“He has back problems,” an audience member said on Tuesday night. “Why are you doing this?”

This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 2:53 PM.