School Board Association That Wrote Letter Comparing Parents To Domestic Terrorists Faces Major Repercussions
The school board association that issued a letter to President Joe Biden requesting the Department of Justice (DOJ) crack down on “threats of violence and acts of intimidation” at local school board meetings has led to the school board association losing over a million dollars.
The National School Boards Association “is looking at a shortfall of at least $1.1 million,” according to the Washington Examiner, as a result of the aftermath over its disastrous letter, which resulted in multiple state board associations cutting relations with the national group. The dues contributions received from those states totaled around $1.1 million, which contributed to the shortfall.
As detailed in a “Time Line of Concerns Raised by Members,” published by the NSBA, the national association lists 12 states that have officially withdrawn their membership from the NSBA as of October 31. These states are Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
The letter from the National Small Business Association (NSBA) was submitted to the Biden administration in late September. A few days after the letter was sent, Attorney General Merrick Garland, announced his plans to order the FBI to investigate the recent spike of “harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” against school board members. The original NSBA letter encouraged Biden to utilize the Patriot Act to investigate “acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials” which the NSBA believed “could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
In October, NSBA’s president and CEO addressed a letter to the Biden administration on September 29 without first obtaining consent from the organization’s board of directors, emails show. The emails also revealed that the White House had requested examples of alleged threats against school board members from the National School Boards Association just one day before Garland announced the formation of a task force to investigate the concerns.
The NSBA issued an apology on October 22 for the letter and the language used in the letter. Additionally, the association expressed regret for not obtaining prior consent from the organization’s board of directors before sending the letter.
Breaking: In the wake of yesterday's @FreeBeacon report, National School Board Association announces "we regret and apologize for the letter" to Biden admin characterizing concerned parents as potentially domestic terrorists pic.twitter.com/3RBufvWqAN
— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) October 23, 2021
The letter the NSBA wrote to its members reads: “On behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter. To be clear, the safety of school board members, other public school officials and educators, and students is our top priority, and there remains important work to be done on this issue. However, there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance. We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations.”
It continued, “As we’ve reiterated since the letter was sent, we deeply value not only the work of local school boards that make important contributions within our communities, but also the voices of parents, who should and must continue to be heard when it comes to decisions about their children’s education, health, and safety.”
