IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — Channel 9 obtained new video of a scuffle that played out during last week’s Iredell-Statesville school board meeting, involving the board chair and one of the members.
Neighbors said this is a long-simmering tension on the school board that finally boiled over.
Last Monday, January 12, the meeting got so heated, it had to end early. During a closed session, longtime board members Anita Kurn and Mike Kubiniec got into repeated disagreements with newly-elected board chair Kevin Angell.
Kubiniec: “Since when does the board chair get to question the motives of board members during a board meeting?” Kubiniec said.
“The best thing that’s gonna happen to this community is when your sorry (expletive) is out of it,” Angell said.
The argument lasts for more than a minute, they belly up to each other, hurling curse words. Until at one point, a woman gets up and urges them to stop...
“Bring it on, (expletive),” Kubiniec said.
“Hey hey hey…we’re bigger than this,” the woman says.
“I could kill you right now,” Angell said.
As Angell walked out, Kubiniec came after him again.
“Don’t let the door hit you in the (expletive) on the way out,” Kubiniec said.
“Mike, you are this close to getting your (expletive) head ripped off,” Angell said.
“Go ahead, give it to me, right here,” Kubiniec said while pointing at his chin.
Kubiniec was one of the board members involved in a texting scandal in 2023, when some neighbors alleged boardmembers were being racially derogatory – ironically, it happened when describing several school fights and conducting public business in private.
Board chair Kevin Angell sent Channel 9 a statement, apologizing to the community, saying he let emotion override judgment and responded in a way that he regrets.
Board member Mike Kubiniec also apologized in a statement, saying the exchange “resulted in unprofessional conduct and the use of inappropriate language.”
But he called for action against the board chair for threatening to kill him.
The board members will see each other again at the next board meeting in less than two weeks, on Feb. 2.
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