By Delayna Earley
The Island News
A Hilton Head parent tried to get the attention of Beaufort County Board of Education members during their meeting on Tuesday, June 27, by throwing bags of chicken feed onto the stage in front of where they were sitting.
David Cook, who has been very vocal about his opinion of the school board and the results of the book review committees as the majority of the 97 books that were taken from the shelves for review in October have been returned to school libraries, got up during the public comment period and told the board members that they are too chicken to do more in getting the books banned from schools.
He has been an outspoken supporter during previous school board meetings of removing the books from Beaufort County schools due to what he believes is pornographic and inappropriate content.
Three of the 61 books that have been reviewed – It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and The Haters by Jessie Andrews – have been banned from the school district. The rest, except for Identical by Ellen Hopkins, which will go back into the review process due to a tie vote, were returned to shelves in some capacity.
Cook spoke during the public comment section of the meeting and called the board members chicken before tossing the bags of bird food at their feet.
“I give you this gift as a way to demonstrate mine and many others opinion at your lack of action,” Cook said after throwing the bags. “Chicken, too afraid. Matter of fact, your behavior gives chicken a bad name.”
He compared his actions to those taken by citizens of Chile who, upset with the government rule, took to throwing chicken feed at the doors of the Department of Defense, “signaling the military leaders were too chicken and too afraid to take action.”
School Board member William Smith said that he and his fellow board members were taken by surprise and were a little scared when Cook threw the bag of bird feed.
Smith got up after Cook took his seat again and moved the bags from sitting right in front of them because he said that he did not know what was really in the bags.
“He said he was trying to get our attention, well there are better ways to get our attention,” Smith said.
At a meeting earlier in June, the school board proposed cutting down the time that commentators are currently allowed to speak from three minutes in hopes of shortening the twice-monthly meetings.
The board would also be allowed to request that speakers from the same group or organization choose one speaker to represent them during the public comments.
Smith, who is against adding limitations to the public comment policies, said that he likes hearing from citizens, but that Cook took it too far.
School Board member Richard Geier, who attended the meeting on June 27 via Zoom because he was out of state on vacation, said that he was disturbed by Cook’s actions and “there have been and will continue to be discussions by board members to address this issue.”
“Because it may be construed to be a safety and security issue, this issue will be addressed in executive session, and I expect there will be a vote in public session on the board’s response to this issue at the next school board meeting,” Geier said.
Delayna Earley lives in Beaufort with her husband, two children and Jack Russell. She spent six years as a videographer and photographer for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette before leaving the Lowcountry in 2018. After freelancing in Myrtle Beach and Virginia, she joined The Island News when she moved back to Beaufort in 2022. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
