Masks off: how US school boards became ‘perfect battlegrounds’ for vicious culture wars

School boards are used to local grievances. But amid fury over mask mandates, members face an unprecedented onslaught

Rina Gallien doesn't consider herself political, but when the 41-year-old mother of four heard that parents who oppose mask mandates in schools were organizing to attend the 12 August meeting of the St Tammany Parish School Board in Slidell, Louisiana, she took time off work to attend.

I didn't want them to think that they are the only people who care about their kids," said Gallien, who has three children still in school and strongly supports the mask mandate reinstated by the state's governor amid soaring Covid-19 cases in early August. I care about my kids too, and I want them to come home safe."