Chester Police probe ‘Zoom-bombing’ at GM school board special meeting

By Cynthia Prairie
©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Chester Police are investigating last Tuesday night’s Zoom-bombing of a school board special meeting that shut down the meeting for about eight minutes.

The incident included pornographic video and vile racial epithets and lasted 48 seconds before it could be shut down. Some Zoom attendees were watching the meeting with their children when the incident occurred.

The meeting was being held by the board of directors of the Green Mountain Unified School District at Green Mountain Union High’s Library Learning Center.

Police Chief Tom Williams, who was at the meeting in person, said he initiated an investigation into the incident as it was occurring. He added that he also has asked for help from “federal partners” to track down the perpetrator or perpetrators and has also been in contact with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Burlington.

Williams added that he would be looking at charges of disorderly conduct by electronic means and possibly a hate crime.

UPDATE: On Friday afternoon, Williams told The Telegraph that the U.S. Attorney’s Office “is interested in federal charges. … This has been run by the FBI in Burlington and they are looking into assisting with the investigation.”

The meeting began at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26,, with more than 30 attendees on Zoom. The Zoom-bombing occurred about 13 minutes later, just after public comments and as board members began addressing the issue that prompted a majority of them to call the meeting in the first place. The Zoom function was shut down at 7:44 and the meeting halted. Both were restarted eight minutes later, with video and audio functions of Zoom attendees shut off.

The issue that the board was addressing was who had authorized the hiring of an attorney to defend the sports name “Chieftain” before the Agency of Education. A majority of the 11-member board say they never voted on the issue, which would have taken place in open session.

Tuesday night’s special meeting had not been announced until Monday afternoon.

Chester Police are asking that anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators to come forward. Police can be reached at 802-875-2035.