Photo: Lucas School – Lucas, Ohio
Why would the NSBA (National School Boards Association) report outspoken parents to the Attorney General and request involvement by the FBI? When did protesting curriculum content, or any school policy decision, become a federal offense?
And don’t respond with the answer, “Violence.”
During the years my children attended public school, I sat in PTA (Parent Teacher Association) meetings and school board meetings in my local town. Those meetings were the appropriate setting for parents and leaders in the local education community to meet, exchange ideas, discuss issues, argue, and vote. (And, yes, sometimes people yelled.) If a parent, teacher or other attendee were to speak too loudly, perhaps demonstrate a heated position, or make any expression or gesture bordering on the unruly, they could be expelled from the room. If the disrupter could not be reasonably managed, we had our local police department who would address the issue and assure the meeting maintained an orderly process.
Any reports of threat, in any form, to a member of our community would again, be addressed by our local police force. Let’s face it, you wouldn’t call Attorney General Garland if a robber broke into your house.
Local school board meetings are local endeavors. Why make a federal case out of them?
There is a reason the NSBA appealed to Attorney General Garland and requested involvement by the FBI. Can anyone say, “Fear and intimidation”?
The NSBA is attempting to bludgeon parents who voice their opinions about what their children learn in public schools. Once again, we have threats against free speech.
I suggest we get the federal government out of our school systems and eliminate the unionized control over teachers and school boards. Education, like real estate, is local. States and their sub-entities of cities and towns should control their own school systems and determine the content of their curriculums. If parents are disruptive or breaking the law, they should be handled by their local law enforcement.
“As principal associate deputy U.S. attorney general from 1994, Garland oversaw several major domestic terrorism prosecutions, including that of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols for the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which killed 168 people. Garland also supervised the prosecution of the so-called Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, who conducted a 17-year bombing campaign in the United States that left 3 people dead and 29 injured.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Merrick-Garland.
Based on his past experience, and presently as chief prosecutor of the United States, Attorney General Merrick Garland should know the difference between domestic terrorists and parents voicing their opinions.