Protest at Cranford was Canceled due to the Board of Education being afraid of a few moms. See the rest of the story below
I’ve been going to BOE meetings unmasked since June and so has fellow mom Gwyneth Murray-Nolan. Both of us never had an issue, until one day she was arrested for quietly sitting at her public meeting unmasked... Her crime? “Disorderly trespassing.” She politely explained to the arresting police officer that is was her constitutional right to be at this public meeting, and then she was promptly arrested by Sergeant Jones.
Gwyneth’s family’s story is the same story as the majority of mothers in New Jersey. Our children are suffering and no one will acknowledge it or fix it.
The injustices to her children don’t even end there. Her children have nightmares, regression in speech and learning, and some mornings her 6-year-old begs not to go to school because he has been targeted and harassed. Why doesn’t Gwyneth homeschool? She’s a single mother who pays her own bills. Gwyneth moved to Cranford so that her 6 and 8-year-olds could go to some of the finest schools in New Jersey. During the pandemic, it turned out to be a complete disappointment.
I suspect her children were targeted by the school because of Gwyneth’s outward activism and advocacy for all the kids. This mother of 2 has been an activist for special needs children and has testified before the Senate and Assembly in New Jersey. She is one of the strongest advocates protecting all children from maltreatment.
The school has imposed rules for her children that do not seem to happen to others. On the first day of school, the nurse administered a test to observe if the 6-year-old was wearing a non-compliant mask. Apparently Gwyneth’s son was getting too much air, according to the nurse, so the principal put the 6-year-old in a room by himself for an hour while Gwyneth was in route from her job to pick him up. So, this young child sat in a room, for an hour, alone waiting for his mother, meanwhile, down the hall, his classmates enjoyed lunch without masks.
Shocking and horrendous.
These injustices are why Gwyneth served a lawsuit to the Cranford Board of Education and Superintendent for the abuses her children have endured, minutes before she was arrested for not wearing a mask. The BOE attorney childishly tossed the papers across the room as soon as he had them in his hands. In my eyes, it is clear, her arrest was a retaliation from the BOE, and it’s attorney.
The most disappointing part of the arrest is that Gwyneth has been an active supporter of the police in her town for years. She has donated to the Cranford Police Athletic League and promoted them publicly. She even previously called the police chief to asked if parents would be arrested at the public meetings for not wearing a mask, and he said Cranford Police had no intention of arresting peaceful parents. Its unfortunate that there was a breakdown in communication to his officers.
Once more, in October of 2021, Officer Jones (the arresting officer) was promoted to sergeant. Gwyneth was actually excited to see the first black woman to become a sergeant in the Cranford Police Department, being from a racially diverse family herself. By February 2022, the woman who Gwyneth publicly praised on social media was now arresting her and violating Gwyneth’s right to free speech. It is truly a betrayal.
Its sad to see this breakdown of community. Schools and police that you trust are now turning against you and your children over harmful mandates that are ending in days.
Our feelings of community are eliminated over this. Parents like us have no trust for the people who hold esteemed positions in our townships and cities. You have failed us and you have failed our children.
So in closing let me leave you with this letter:
Dear Cranford NJ BOE,
We mom’s aren’t putting up with this anymore. We stand with Gwyneth. Rest assured we will be coming to your BOE meeting Cranford NEW JERSEY on February 28th at 7:30 PM, 123 Thomas St., Cranford. I hope your Police Department rents a bus to arrest us all. Oh and be aware, we will ALL be filing lawsuits against ALL of you.
See you soon,
Nikki & and the Mom Squad.
Watch the full video that explains it all from our friends at NJ PHIPAC.
This is not a free speech issue. It is a public health issue. Masks were required at the time for the benefit of the wider public health. That may have meant that some members of the public were disadvantaged in some respects, but the point behind public health laws is to provide the best protection and benefit to the widest scope of the public. It's called living in a civilized society - we bend our individual rights and wishes for the greater common good.