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While the Proud Boys’ membership is not public, Mr. Holt said the group grew up in small towns and counties.
Often times, their presence has been enough to spoil things. Last month, the school board in Beloit, Wis. said it was canceling classes as some Proud Boys were at a local protest over mask requirements. In Orange County, California, the school board said in September it would install metal detectors and take extra security after several Proud Boys attended a meeting and threatened their members.
In New Hanover County, NC, a home of about 220,000 people and two hours north of Charlotte, school board president Stefanie Adams said she’s been reading about the group’s growing appearances and is starting to follow the reports closely.
Ms. Adams said she sensed the Proud Boys might show up in the school district, which has 25,000 students. The district said it held many controversial meetings on the issue, as North Carolina law requires the county school board to vote each month on whether to continue with the mandate of a mask for students.
“I thought we were on their radar and might be next,” Ms Adams said. “We knew we had to be prepared for them to come to our town as well.”
Last month, Ms. Adams was informed by the head of security, which the board hires for monthly meetings, that some of the Proud Boys were outside the building for a vote on mask duty.
Ms. Adams said that the Five Proud Boys finally entered the room and stood in the back. They folded their arms over their tactical vests and wore T-shirts that matched the group’s emblematic rooster. Although they did not speak publicly, video footage from the two-hour meeting showed anti-mask speakers applauding and cheering as they made their claims.
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