RUMFORD — Classes for all schools in Regional School Unit 10 were canceled Tuesday after intruders took over the online school board meeting Monday night, threatening the schools and yelling racial slurs and vulgar comments.
Superintendent Deb Alden issued a statement to the school community late Monday night after the board meeting was cut short by the intruders, who took over the video and audio feed.
“We quickly involved the Rumford Police Department, paused the school board meeting, and ended the basketball game that was underway,” she wrote. “We were able to identify the IP address, and the Rumford PD was able to make contact with the owner.”
During the meeting, the Spruce Mountain and Mountain Valley boys basketball teams were playing a game in the gym. The game was suspended early in the fourth quarter after the threat.
Alden said it appeared some people inadvertently entered the meeting via the online platform.
“Vulgar comments and a threat to our schools was made,” she said.
“We believe that our schools will be safe; however, because the threat mentioned tomorrow, we will not have school in RSU 10 on Tuesday,” she wrote. “This will also give law enforcement additional time to complete their investigation. Out of an abundance of caution, we will have law enforcement present when we return to school on Wednesday.”
“As a district we apologize to those hearing this language at a public meeting,” she wrote.
Most of the 13 directors and Alden were at Mountain Valley High School and the rest were among the more than 90 people attending via Zoom.
The intruders were yelling and swearing, some using the N-word and using vulgar language.
Apparently unaware of what was happening at first, the board members and Alden continued their discussion until they were alerted of the online attack. Following a short recess, Alden returned via Zoom to say the board was ending the meeting.
“We will decide when we can (reschedule the meeting), because we do have many important things on our agenda that we would like to take care of,” she said. “So, we will end the meeting now.”
RSU 10 includes the towns of Rumford, Mexico, Roxbury, Buckfield, Hartford, Sumner and Hanover. The district seven schools in Rumford, Mexico, Buckfield and Sumner.
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