McConnell challenges Garland on DOJ efforts to deal with threats against public school board members and teachers

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“Parents should definitely tell their local schools what to teach. This is the very basis of representative government,” McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, wrote in a letter. “They do this both in elections and – as the First Amendment to the Constitution protects – when they ask their government to seek redress. Telling elected officials that they are wrong is democracy, not intimidation.

CNN has contacted the Justice Department for comment.

Letter from Senate Minority Leader comes in response to a Justice Department effort to address increased harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers public schools. Earlier this week, Garland called on the FBI and U.S. attorneys’ offices to meet with federal, state and local law enforcement officials “to discuss strategies to combat this disturbing trend,” the department said in a report. Press release.

“Threats against public officials are not only illegal, they go against the core values ​​of our country,” Garland wrote in a note on the directive. “Those who devote their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive an appropriate education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their jobs without fear for their safety. “

The National School Boards Association had asked the Biden administration to help it deal with threats against educators for approving mask policies to protect against Covid-19 and threats against false “propaganda” on the Critical race theory taught in classrooms even though it “remains a complex law school and graduate subject far beyond the reach of a K-12 class.”

Still, Republicans are using talking points similar to McConnell’s ahead of the 2022 contests, and party members have previously sought to exploit the recent Republican focus on education issues in the Virginia governor’s race.

Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin quickly turned a comment on Democratic oppositionist Terry McAuliffe’s issue into an attack announcement aimed at invigorating grassroots GOP voters and parents ahead of the election. November.

The time has come for the second and final debate between the two at the end of last month. “I’m not going to let parents go into schools and actually take out books and make their own decision,” McAuliffe said about what should be taught in schools. The former governor later added: “I don’t think parents should tell schools what to teach.”

The comments, after being extensively picked up by the conservative media, quickly became an advertisement for Youngkin and have already become a staple of Youngkin’s speech in the final weeks of the Commonwealth leadership race.

CNN’s Eva McKend, Daniella Diaz and Dan Merica contributed to this report.

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