Rochester, New York, mother and local radio host Shannon Joy filed a federal lawsuit against her school board after she was arrested and charged with trespassing during a meeting last year for supposedly not wearing her mask properly.
Joy, joining SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly, said that during the meeting her mask was only pushed down for a moment so she could put a piece of gum in her mouth. That’s when the school board broke for recess, called 911, and directed authorities to arrest her, specifically.
She was indeed cuffed, arrested, and charged with “trespassing” — all of which was captured on video.
Joy told Kelly she was targeted by the school board over her past activism and was meant to be made an example of to deter other parents from speaking out.
Notably, the trespassing charge against Joy was dismissed in the interest of “justice.” The mother and her legal team soon after filed the federal lawsuit to help other parents across the nation hit with trespassing charges over supposed mask/COVID violations, Joy explained.
“When they called the recess, I got this sinking feeling that they were going to arrest, potentially, me,” Joy recalled to Kelly. “This particular meeting was very different than previous meetings. The board had worked with an outside organization called ‘Black In The Burbs,’ which is a suburban version of BLM (Black Lives Matter) and they brought in about 25 activists — all with red shirts.”
“When I came into that meeting there were probably six or seven cameras on me from the second I walked into that room,” she explained. “So, everyone sensed that something was very different about this meeting.”
“The only time [my mask] came underneath my nose was when I took it down to put a piece of gum in my mouth,” Joy said. “And in that moment, that’s when Mary White, who was a school board member, signaled to security and other members of the board that they wanted to go to recess. They then went to recess and I was told by the arresting officer that they called 911, requested specifically that Shannon Joy is arrested.”
Joy recalled the experience as “terrifying” and “humiliating” and noted that in the aftermath, her husband was doxxed. But she also vowed that she was “not gonna back down,” highlighting the federal suit.
“It was one of the most uncomfortable situations that I have ever endured,” she said. “And I’m glad that it happened because it exposed what these school boards are capable of.”
“But it was terrifying, humiliating … the conversations I had to have that evening with my kids and my husband, my neighbors — it’s divided a lot of our neighborhood. It’s a difficult battle … but I’m not gonna back down. That’s the thing: what they did was wrong, and this is why we are filing this federal lawsuit.”
Following Joy’s arrest, the mother of three similarly told The Daily Wire she felt she was targeted.
“It is becoming blatantly apparent that the Fairport School Board, Superintendent Brett Provenzano and outside organization ‘Black In The Burbs’ collaborated to create meeting conditions designed to result in my arrest,” Joy said. “I have been an outspoken community organizer with a large media platform and am often critical of the board’s policy & practices regarding masking, coerced vaccination, Critical Race Theory & Comprehensive Sex Education.”
“These individuals are so frightened of transparency and organic, open discourse that they sought to silence, intimidate and publicly humiliate me to serve as a warning to any other parent who dares to speak up,” she continued. “Instead, they have inadvertently outraged our community even further.”
In response, President of the Fairport Central School District school board Peter Forsgren told The Daily Wire via email, “The district followed its established policy regarding the public comment period. Ms. Joy was not on the list for public comments.”
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