Joint Statement In Response to National School Board Association Accusation of Parents Engaging in ‘Domestic Terrorism’

Ms. Viola M. Garcia and Mr. Chip Slaven
National School Board Association
1680 Duke St Fl. 2
Alexandria, VA 22314

Sent via Electronic Mail ([email protected])

Dear Ms. Garcia and Mr. Slaven,

On behalf of our 427,000 members, the undersigned organizations write in response to your September 29th letter to President Biden requesting “federal assistance to stop threats and acts of violence” against school board members, school officials, and teachers.

In that letter you requested that the federal government “investigate, intercept, and prevent the
current threats and acts of violence against our public school officials through existing statutes,
executive authority, interagency and intergovernmental task forces, and other extraordinary measures”
and that the government leverage “the expertise and resources of the U.S. Department of Justice,
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, and its
National Threat Assessment Center.”

NSBA cites a tiny number of minor incidents in order to insinuate that parents who are criticizing and
protesting the decisions of school boards are engaging in, or may be engaging in, “domestic terrorism
and hate crimes.” NSBA even invokes the PATRIOT Act. The association of legitimate protest with
terrorism and violence reveals both your contempt for parents and your unwillingness to understand
and hear the sincere cries of parents on behalf of their children. To equate parents with terrorists
dishonors the thousands of victims of actual terrorism around the world. Have you no shame?

Your letter to President Biden is a thinly veiled threat, intended to intimidate into silence and
submission the very constituents that your members ostensibly represent.

Our organizations unequivocally oppose violence and find it deeply troubling that you imply otherwise
about concerned citizens who care deeply about their community’s children – and who are concerned
by the direction that America’s schools have taken.

Citizens are angry that school boards and school officials around the country are restricting access to
public meetings, limiting public comment, and in some cases conducting business via text messages in
violation of state open meetings laws. They are angry that schools are charging them thousands of
dollars in public records requests to view curriculum and training materials that impact their children
and that should be open to the public by default. They are angry that pandemic-related learning losses
have compounded the already-low reading, writing, and math proficiency rates in America’s schools.
They are angry that rather than focusing on declining student achievement, large numbers of districts
have chosen to fund, often with hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money, “social justice”
and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs with finite resources.

Your members refuse to listen to these concerns – and your association has chosen to smear their
constituents rather than engage with them in good faith. It is appalling that you would choose to
threaten your fellow Americans for having the courage to hold you accountable for your failures.
We will not be bullied. We will not have our speech chilled. We have a constitutional right to petition
our elected officials, and we will continue to do so.

We ask that your organization – and your members – engage respectfully and constructively with the
country’s parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens so that we might work together to address and
improve the quality of America’s public education system for all children.

Sincerely,

Parents Defending Education
Awake IL
CACAGNY
California Foundation for Equal Rights
Citizens for Brandywine School District
Conservative Ladies of Washington
Education First Alliance
Fair Education Santa Barbara
Fight for Schools
Fishers One
Moms for America
Moms for Liberty
New Castle Patriots for Delaware School
Committee
No Left Turn
Olentangy For Students
Oregonians for Liberty in Education and Liberty
in Education Foundation
Recall MTSD School Board
Take Back Our Schools GCS
Unify Carmel
Utah Parents United
We the Parents Coronado