Newly released emails from the National School Boards Association show the organization was aware that Attorney General Merrick Garland had prepared a memo directing the FBI to investigate threats against school boards prior to its publication.
The revelation raises new questions about the organization’s coordination with the Biden administration in writing its infamous September letter requesting that protesting parents be investigated as domestic terrorists.
An email obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Parents Defending Education showed that Chip Slaven, NSBA’s interim executive director, was aware of a memo dated Oct. 4, 2021, by the attorney general establishing a joint FBI-Justice Department task force to investigate threats against school board members.
The email, dated Oct. 5, 2021, the day after Garland’s memo was released, showed former NSBA board member Pam Doyle telling fellow board member Beverly Slough that “Chip knew about the U.S. AG directives before they were published.”
EDUCATION SECRETARY MIGUEL CARDONA UNDER FIRE FOR SOLICITING PARENTS-AS-TERRORISTS LETTER
The revelation comes weeks after a previous FOIA-obtained email showed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona had solicited the now-infamous Sept. 29, 2021, letter from the NSBA that asked the Biden administration to investigate parents protesting at school board meetings as domestic terrorists under the PATRIOT Act. The Education Department denied the secretary had sought the letter.
The NSBA, after heavy public backlash, apologized for the letter and withdrew it, but Garland defended his memo in testimony to congressional committees in October, saying the NSBA’s justification for the letter was still valid even if it had withdrawn it.
Emails shared by a whistleblower to congressional Republicans in November revealed the FBI was actively monitoring threats against school boards using a “threat tag.”
The NSBA’s letter prompted numerous state school boards associations to withdraw from the national organization. The organization is facing a substantial financial shortfall as a result.
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Nicole Neily, the president of Parents Defending Education, said in a statement that “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,” she said.
