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A group representing school boards is asking the Biden administration to examine threats and violence against education administrators and schools to determine whether they violate the Patriot Act and hate crime laws amid clashes between angry parents and educators over COVID-19 policies and critical race theory. taught in classrooms.
In a letter to Biden on Wednesday, the National School Boards Association called on the federal government to consider whether steps can be taken to end vitriol and violence using the Gun-Free School Zones Act and the Patriot Act, the controversial law enacted after September 11. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
The request comes amid a culture war that has prompted some school officials to resign or not be re-elected.
“Coupled with attacks on school board members and educators for approving mask policies to protect the health and safety of students and school employees, many public school officials are also facing physical threats due to propaganda claiming the false inclusion of critical race theory in classroom education and curricula, ”reads the letter signed by NSBA President Viola Garcia and Chip Slaven, the Executive Director and Interim CEO of the group.
In addition, the NSBA has called for a review of threats and violence under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act, the Violent Interference with Government Protected Rights Act. federal and anti-rights conspiracy law.
VIRGINIA PARENTS TORCH LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD ON CRITICAL THEORY OF RACE, “PORNOGRAPHIC” BOOKS AT SCHOOL
In recent months, school districts across the country have seen angry protests and confrontations between parents and education officials at school board meetings. The letter cited anger at the school mask guidelines and Critical Race Theory, which focuses on the impact of power structures and institutions on racial minorities.
Many opponents have called him a racist.
Loudoun County, Virginia has become the epicenter of anger against such policies. A group opposed to CRT education, the Free to Learn Coalition, recently launched a $ 500,000 advertising blitz criticizing the local school board. Loudon County administrators and teachers have reportedly blacklisted and doxed parents who spoke out against the controversial use of critical race theory in public school classrooms.
In this August 12, 2021 file photo of protesters against a COVID-19 warrant gesture as they are escorted out of the Clark County School Board meeting at the Clark County Government Center in Las Vegas. School boards across the country are asking President Joe Biden for federal help to investigate and end a growing number of threats made against their members on Thursday, September 30.
(Bizuayehu Tesfaye / Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that much of the responsibility for protecting school boards rests with local law enforcement, but “we are continuing to explore whether more can be done in this area. the whole administration “.
“Obviously these threats to school board members are horrible. They are doing their job,” she said at a press briefing.
In a US Senate committee hearing Thursday, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona denounced hostility against school board members and praised their “unwavering support” to reopen schools safely. He said the lack of civility in some meetings is disappointing and in some places it has been “very dangerous”.
Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic governor of Virginia who is running again as head of state, sparked anger this week when he gave his opinion on the degree of parental involvement in decision-making at school.
“I don’t think parents should tell schools what to teach,” he said during a debate against Republican Glenn Youngkin in Alexandria.
The NSBA letter cited numerous news reports and incidents in which threats were made against school board officials and meetings were disrupted. In Michigan, one person shouted a Nazi salute to protest mask requirements at a meeting and another person angry with the CRT prompted the board to request a suspension, according to the letter.
School board meetings were disrupted in several states, including California, Florida and Georgia.
People speak out ahead of the start of a rally against “Critical Race Theory” (CRT) taught at Loudoun County Government Center schools in Leesburg, Va. On June 12.
(Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)
In Arizona, three men reportedly threatened to have a citizen arrested a principal because of the school’s COVID-19 measures.
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“These threats or actual acts of violence against our school districts impact the delivery of educational services to students and families,” Garcia and Slaven wrote.
In addition to the Patriot Act and the Gun-Free School Zones Act, the NSBA has also called on the US Postal Service to intervene against threat letters and cyberbullying against students, teachers, board members and d ‘other educators.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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