BELLWOOD — During a virtual meeting Tuesday, members of the public civilly expressed their frustrations with the Bellwood-Antis School Board, including one person who apologized for what happened at a previous meeting.

District officials moved the meeting to a virtual format following behavior that resulted in legal charges at the board’s Feb. 1 meeting. Members of the public questioned the district’s actions with frustrations bubbling over concerning the Ryan Blazier sexual abuse case.

That resulted in shouting and led to a premature adjournment. B-A officials said they consulted with law enforcement officials in making the safety decision.

“As stated previously by the solicitor, the board cannot comment on any matter that’s an act of litigation that would include the Blazier matter,” said board President Tom Finn.

He dispelled rumors on social media that the board had planned to host a town hall on the Blazier situation. “That is not something that the board has ever agreed to, and we do not plan on doing that for the reasons I just outlined,” Finn said.

Finn telephoned individuals who signed up to make public comments at Tuesday’s meeing, including Rochelle Simpson who was at the Feb. 1 meeting and organized a protest held outside the district office last week.

“In a perfect world, I think what we as a community sees, is a world of working together to come to decisions. And I would like to say that given the circumstances that have occurred within the last few weeks … that a lot of decisions have been made single-handedly. And that is very discouraging, especially for our school districts,” Simpson said.

She said the decision-making was more of a “dictatorship.” Simpson repeated her previous calls for individuals who are under investigation be placed on leave until the matter concludes.

Following Simpson was Justin Alley, who began his comment with an apology.

“First off, I just wanted to apologize for last week or two weeks ago over the last school board meeting. I’m sorry. I’m just passionate about what’s going on,” Alley said.

Court documents show that misdemeanor charges including counts of disrupting meetings or processions and disorderly conduct were filed after police said Alley used vulgar language and refused to leave.

“But all I really want to say is these are serious accusations (regarding the Blazier case). And with accusations like this, you would think that people like that working around children wouldn’t be allowed in that kind of position,” Alley said.

He added that he would not care if the individuals under investigation were on a paid administrative leave, but he stressed that they should not be around the students until the conclusion of the investigation.

“What if a year from now, it comes out that these people are guilty,” Alley asked.

Troy Alley, Elias Alley, Tracie Alley and Jennifer Parkes also signed up for public comment but requested that their time be allocated to Sherri Noonan.

“I know this isn’t the best situation for anybody; there are no winners in this situation,” Noonan began. “But here we are. But also, unfortunately, this is what happens when there is no transparency going on.”

“We have to deal with this. I must remind the nine school board members that they’ve been put into the position by the community of Bellwood-Antis and the taxpayers. That you are here to have our backs and the backs of kids in the school district as a whole,” Noonan said.

She also said the board and district is not a “dictatorship” and said the board should work as a collective group to gain all information that is available.

“I beg you not to take ‘no’ for an answer and demand answers that you are entitled to,” Noonan said, before echoing other commenters’ calls for administrative leaves.

After the public comment period, the meeting primarily focused on B-A’s potential move to the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference beginning in the 2023-24 academic year. The Sports section has more in-depth coverage of the discussion.

Board members also discussed the Hollidaysburg Area School District’s move to end contact tracing. Finn said as a parent, he would like to have the information to be able to make his own decision for his child. Vice President Kathy Burch agreed, saying that parents should have the information to make their own decisions and “keep an eye” on their kids.

Superintendent Thomas McInroy added that keeping contact tracing would also be a courtesy for parents or caregivers who have pre-existing conditions and for students who share households with grandparents or those with compromised immune systems.

The board approved various actions including adding additional teachers to its After School Academy. The after school program meets Monday through Thursday for an hour each day. Officials said the program began on Jan. 31 and runs through mid-April with 35 students currently enrolled. McInroy said the program is helping middle school students who have experienced difficulties in learning over the past three COVID-19 affected school years.

McInroy said next month’s meeting details will be announced at a later time.