The National School Board Association was aware that Attorney General Merrick Garland planned to release a controversial memo in response to the NSBA letter comparing parent protests of COVID-19 school mandates to “domestic terrorism” before the memo was released, according to emails obtained by Fox News.
“I understand Chip [Slaven] knew about the A.G. directives before they were published. So much for communicating with the BOD [Board of Directors],” NSBA southern regional director Pam Doyle wrote in an email to SBA Board of Directors member Beverly Slough on Oct. 5 – one day after Garland’s memo was issued.
Slaven was then the NSBA interim Executive Director and CEO.
The email was obtained by Parents Defending Education, a pro-parents group, who shared the email with Fox.
“The American people deserve the truth about this issue immediately,” PDE President Nicole Neilly told Fox News. “It is appalling that the Department of Justice and Education Department have continued to stonewall on this scandal, ignoring pleas not only from the very people they are supposed to represent but also from the elected officials to whom they report. It’s little wonder that trust in government is at a historic low point.”
Garland issued his memo days after the NSBA sent a letter on Sept. 29 to President Joe Biden, co-signed by association Slaven and NSBA President Viola Garcia, that said “America’s public schools and its education leaders are under an immediate threat,” from parents protesting COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates and Critical Race Theory.
The letter suggested that the parental protests “could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes” and asked that the administration review the issue.
Emails suggested possible collusion with the Biden administration. The same day the letter was sent, Slaven told his fellow NSBA officers that he had been “in talks over the last several weeks with White House staff” who had “requested additional information on some of the specific threats,” emails revealed.
An internal memo from the NSBA that circulated in October questioned whether the White House ordered Garland to have the FBI investigate confrontational school board meetings across the country.
Additionally, an October 6 email from NSBA Secretary-Treasurer Kristi Swett to NSBA board member Marnie Maraldo said that Slaven had told his fellow officers “he was writing a letter to provide information to the White House, from a request by Secretary Cardona,”
Garland’s memo announced that the FBI would lead the law enforcement response to “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”
He ordered the FBI and US attorneys to arrange meetings with federal, state, local, tribal and territorial leaders to “facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats” and “open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.”
After the memo was issued, Slaven said in a statement that Garland’s action sent a “strong message to individuals with violent intent who are focused on causing chaos, disrupting our public schools, and driving wedges between school boards and the parents, students, and communities they serve.”
Garland’s memo sparked outrage nationwide among parents and GOP lawmakers, who said it attacked parents’ right to speak out about the mandates and Critical Race Theory.
Days later, the NSBA repudiated Slaven and Garcia’s letter, saying in a statement “there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter.”
The NSBA has launched its own independent internal investigation into the matter.
“The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is launching an independent comprehensive review of the circumstances around the September 2021 letter sent to the Biden administration. The sentiments shared in the letter do not represent the views or position of NSBA toward parents, and directly contradict our core commitment to parent engagement – we sent the wrong message, and we have apologized,” John Heim, the NSBA’s new executive director and CEO, told Fox News on Monday.
“The review will be conducted by Philip Kiko, an attorney and the former Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives under two different Speakers, and the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich. The review will seek to address as many questions as possible, and NSBA will share the findings with their members and the Hill as quickly as possible. We take this matter seriously and will continue to take appropriate action,” Heim said.
