Hundreds show up for Grapevine-Colleyville school board meeting on CRT, gender policy

An overflow crowd spilled outside as some people gathered in tents set up in the parking lot ahead of Monday night’s highly anticipated Grapevine-Colleyville school board meeting.

Trustees will consider new policies that would prevent teachers from including material on gender and equity including the use of pronouns in identification.

Another proposal would expressly prohibit any teaching or discussion about the 1619 Project, or Critical Race Theory (CRT).

Laura Leeman, a parent in the school district, said she signed up at 8 a.m. Monday to speak during the public comment portion of the night meeting. About 197 people had signed up to speak.

The main board meeting started at 7 p.m., but the parking lots were full when a Star-Telegram reporter arrived shortly before 6 p.m.

Patriot Mobile, a conservative Christian cellphone company based in Grapevine that has donated money to candidates in school board races, set up tents outside serving food with music playing. Big screens were displayed outside for people to watch the meeting.

Patriot Mobile last week donated “In God We Trust” posters to the Carroll school district that will be displayed in Southlake schools.

Over the past week, the district announced that book fairs were postponed while a search is underway for another vendor.

District spokesperson Nicole Lyons told the Star-Telegram previously that the vendor could not produce a list of books in time to meet the district’s new guidelines.