After an almost five-hour meeting Tuesday, the Gloucester County School Board could not agree on whether to implement a mask mandate for the opening of the 2021-2022 school year. Instead, the issue was tabled and will be considered again next Thursday, Aug. 19.

More than 30 people addressed the board Tuesday; most of them speaking out against a mask mandate. Some deemed such a mandate “child abuse” and said the decision should be left to parents, but another speaker said “it can’t be your choice to make someone else’s child sick.”

Speakers also addressed a pair of other hot-button school issues—Critical Race Theory (with at least one insisting it was being taught in Gloucester public schools) and the state department of education’s model policy on transgender students.

Virginia public schools will be required to have an inclusive policy for transgender students in place this fall, and the department of education suggests it include allowing access to facilities, such as restr...