The Baltimore City school board meeting was abruptly adjourned Tuesday evening after an announcement that there was an emergency that required everyone to leave.

The announcement was made shortly after the school board, which was meeting at the city schools administrative headquarters at 200 E. North Ave., had left for what was supposed to be a short break. Board members said they were going to the fourth floor.

As the public and staff began to walk out of the meeting room, school police arrived.

In a statement Tuesday night, Baltimore City Public Schools said the decision to end the meeting early was made with the advice of school police.

On Wednesday, city school officials gave a more detailed explanation. During the meeting, the statement said, “on-site law enforcement observed a perceived threat from an unknown group of individuals. These individuals stationed themselves at various locations in the boardroom, clearly communicating and demonstrating coordinated behaviors consistent with a planned activity.”

The statement said school police advised them to stop the meeting out of “an abundance of caution.” They asked people to leave so that the city school police could investigate the situation.

As the meeting was adjourning, a cameraman filmed John K. Amanchukwu Sr. saying that the meeting was being cut short because the board didn’t want to listen to him.

Eight police cars arrived at Tuesday night’s meeting and officers stayed with Amanchukwu as people left the building.

Amanchukwu identifies himself in his X profile as a pastor and contributor to to the right-wing organization Turning Point USA. His profile says he’s “Labeled as The Book Banning Pastor by liberal media,” and he’s been removed from school board meetings around the country.

In an interview with the Banner, Amanchukwu accused the school system of coming up with a lie to prevent the public from hearing his message because the reason for the clear-out was initially called a “citywide emergency.” He called it an infringement on his First Amendment rights.

The school board routinely listens to criticism from the public during the public comment portion of their meeting. Each person is given three minutes to present their view.

“How much harm can I do in 180 seconds?” Amanchukwu asked.

It is rare for a board meeting to be adjourned halfway through the agenda. Over the years, meetings have included dozens of protesters carrying signs and people who screamed at the board or staff, but those protests never caused the meetings to be cut short.

Amanchukwu said he brought supporters with him to the meeting, describing them in a text message as “God-Fearing, Pro-Family, Pro-America, straight, Alpha-Males.”

The North Carolina resident said it’s his calling to speak at school board meetings across the country. He’s been in 14 states, he said, speaking about critical race theory and sexually explicit books. In one instance in Florida, he read a passage from the book “13 Reasons Why” by Jay Asher, a young adult novel about a girl who died by suicide. Amanchukuwu described the book as “pornography.”

Amanchukwu said he’s invited to the meetings by parents, grandparents and even teachers. Amanchukwu did not want to say who invited him to Baltimore but said his message would’ve been about academic achievement for Black students and a failure in leadership.

“If you’re going to Baltimore, you’re going to attack the lack of producing solid test scores for students across the board,” he said.

Test scores from the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program were released Tuesday. City schools pass rates in English and math saw some of the largest improvements in the state over last year’s scores, though they remain lower than those in surrounding school districts.

On the Baltimore meeting’s agenda was a presentation and discussion of the equity policy that outlines training for city school employees and curriculum called BMore Me that highlights Black history in the city.

The self-proclaimed evangelist said he plans to return to a city board meeting but isn’t yet sure when. He wants to go when a lot of news media will be there.

About four hours before the start of the meeting, Amanchukwu posted to Facebook that he would be speaking at a school board meeting in an undisclosed city.

“Truth is a train wreck! I have a tough message to deliver tonight. Pray for me!” Amanchukwu wrote.

At about 7 p.m., just as the school board meeting started, Amanchukwu posted to X: “Democrat policies in inner cities are failing Democrats, and no one is impacted like those who are economically disadvantaged.”