COVERITLIVE.COM

6:00

Kevin Thompson - It;s 6 p.m. Do you know where your teacher or parent is? Chances are, many of them are at Santaluces High School near Lantana tonight at what promises to be another hotly-contested school board meeting. Halloween is over, but many of those parents and teachers in attendance are sporting orange T-shirts as another form of solidarity. I've only been here for a few minutes, but there have already been at least five standing ovations.

6:02

Kevin Thompson - "This has to stop," said Chuck Ridley. "You gotta fix it." Ridley is talking directly to Art Johnson and Jeffrey Hernandez. "Don't get this thing twisted," Ridley adds. "If they (parents) can be mobolized to the boardroom, they can be mobolized to the voting booth." More thunderous applause.

6:04	Kevin Thompson - I'm not sure how many seats are in the school's auditorium, but just about all of them are filled with a passionate audience member.

6:08	Kevin Thompson - The NAACP tells Johson: "We've got to find a way to bring everybody in. We have to some research-based and evidence-based solutions."

6:12	Kevin Thompson - Sitting in front of their gray Dell laptops, the 12 school administrators on stage appear to be listening intently. So far a grim-faced Johnson, however, is making little eye contact with speakers.

6:16	Kevin Thompson - The audience is asked to be "courteous" to speakers after one audience member disagrees with a speaker who praises the board for educating Palm Beach County's kids. "It's the teachers!" someone shouts, as a good part of the audience claps in agreement.

6:23	Kevin Thompson - A woman whose house is in forclosure and who just lost her job holds up a picture of her Dominican kids. "It's not a race issue," she says.

6:24	Kevin Thompson - "I'm a mother," the woman continues, while chastising the board for putting race on the table. "We are the same." Standing ovation No. 7.

6:30	Kevin Thompson - There's a break in the action as the board listens to an audit report. The audience looks -- and sounds -- a little restless.

6:32	Kevin Thompson - Someone wants to know why other school board business is on the agenda in between public comments.

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