WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday directed federal authorities to hold strategy sessions in the next 30 days with law enforcement to address the increasing threats targeting school board members, teachers and other employees in the nation’s public schools.
In a memorandum, Garland said there has been “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation’s public schools.”
To address the rising problem, Garland said the FBI would work with U.S. attorneys and federal, state, local, territorial and tribal authorities in each district to develop strategies against the threats.
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“While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views,” he said.
The action is in response to an urgent request last week from the National School Boards Association. The group, which represents school board members around the country, asked President Joe Biden for federal assistance to investigate and stop threats made over policies including mask mandates, likening the vitriol to a form of domestic terrorism.
The association asked for the federal government to investigate cases where threats or violence could be handled as violations of federal laws protecting civil rights. It also asked for the Justice Department, FBI, Homeland Security and Secret Service to help monitor threat levels and assess risks to students, educators, board members and school buildings.
Parents are speaking out against Critical Race Theory in schools. Now the Biden administration is cracking down on dissent. https://t.co/jvdi2kB7rp
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) October 5, 2021
The group’s letter documented more than 20 instances of threats, harassment, disruption, and acts of intimidation in California, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio and other states. It cited the September arrest of an Illinois man for aggravated battery and disorderly conduct for allegedly striking a school official at a meeting. In Michigan, a meeting was disrupted when a man performed a Nazi salute to protest masking.
“We are coming after you,” a letter mailed to an Ohio school board member said, according to the group. “You are forcing them to wear mask — for no reason in this world other than control. And for that you will pay dearly.” It called the member “a filthy traitor.”
In making the announcement Garland said the Justice Department would use its authority and resources to discourage the threats and “prosecute them when appropriate. In the coming days, the Department will announce a series of measures designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel.”
School board members are largely unpaid volunteers, parents and former educators who step forward to shape school policy, choose a superintendent and review the budget, but they have been frightened at how their jobs have suddenly become a culture war battleground. The climate has led a growing number to resign or decide against seeking reelection.
In a statement, Chip Slaven, NSBA interim executive director and CEO, praised the Justice Department’s swift action and pointed to the detrimental impact the threats of violence and intimidation have had on the education system.
“Over the last few weeks, school board members and other education leaders have received death threats and have been subjected to threats and harassment, both online and in person,” Slaven said. The department’s action “is 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.”
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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We need to label this evil administration as “Constitutional terrorist” …and…. MAKE IT STICK!
“The climate has led a growing number to resign or decide against seeking reelection.”,,,,,in the good old days they would just be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. They should be glad that sticks and stones can break their bones but the names called and the defiance now shoed will only run them out of office where they belong. Garland is showing his true colors and thank God he sits not on the SUpreme Court. Just more proof positive that ALL politics should remain LOCAL and the social recontructors failed experimentors kept away from the cradles of democracy they now empty by the bushelful.
Mega Dittos on that my friend!
BUT is he doing MORE HARM as the head of the Dept of injustice, than he EVER COULD as one of NINE judges on the scotus??
Another overreach of Federal authority for issues that are essential local but have been been nationalized by teachers’ unions, the school board association (where did that come from?), and the Department of Education. These groups have taken away control of education from local parents who vote for school boards to represent THEM and not the special interests cited above. COVID made this possible because parents could see via remote learning what was being taught and were appalled. The indoctrinators are running for cover and need protection from the system that now believes parents have no business in deciding what their children should be taught, only the state knows. Reminds me of prewar Germany and Russia after the revolution, and Mao’s China!
Just like antifa.. “DEFUND THE COPS”.
OOps someone’s assaulting us.. RHEEE where are the cops t protect us!??!
” The Next Time Your In Trouble, Call A Hippy, ” Not A Cop ! .. Good Luck!
I’d love to see them even TRY TO call a hippy!
To joe23006
i believe that s Parents Rights over their Children doesn’ t end at the Schoolhouse Door over what the School Board wiches to indoctrinate the parents children with. ” Render unto Czar The Things That Are Czars and Unto God The Things That Are God’s. ” Quote From The Bible.
Response to Joe23006
Hitler once said, ” Let me Control The Text Book, and I Will Control The State . ” I.e. Let The democrat Socialists of America Control The Parents and their Children And democrats Will Control The State “
And iirc Stalin said something about “LET ME control the kids for four years, and the seeds i sow, will never be uprooted..”
or something like that.
“BREAKING: Attorney General Merrick Garland has instructed the FBI to mobilize against parents who oppose critical race theory in public schools, citing “threats.”
The letter follows the National School Board Association’s request
to classify protests as “domestic terrorism.”
The “Socialist Democrat Party State” political officers, Gestapo, Woke and Cancel Culture are just getting started.
You will obey, be loyal and support the “Socialist Democrat Party State” or you will be classified as “Enemies of the State”.
24 Aug. 2020 – Monday on MSNBC’s “Live,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
referred to President Donald Trump and his Republican supporters as
“domestic enemies” and “enemies of the State”.
”Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, labeled US President Donald Trump, his supporters and the Republican Party “domestic enemies” and “enemies of the State.”
These CRT clowns on school boards “should” be subject to harassment by parents of the children they are brainwashing. The concept that school boards should not be a reflection of the wishes of the majority of parents who pay taxes for schools is tyranny. Of course the primary problem is parents not paying attention to whom they are electing to these school boards. What a mess we have created in the last few decades of not paying attention.
IF the leftists re ok with the harassment that senator manchen and Sinema are receiving, THEN THEY DAMN WELL should be ok with the harassment The parents are giving these teachers/school administrators!
Its Almost comical that Human Life is held so unworthy by Abortion Mills/ ” P?anned Parenthood Clinics ” but the Communist democrat party of America, under ” Commander- In- Chief’S Attorney General Merrick Garland, Calls concerned parents, “Terrorists .” Imagine Parents who llove their children, Terrorists! !
WHILE parents who ABORT their kids, are “HEROINES”…
People Marxist have arrived in America parents your children belong to you not the government. The government has no rights to tell you how to raise your children this is unconstitutional fight for their freedom
I say if the kids are “THE GOVTS not the parents’, THEN THE GOVT should be the ones paying for feeding and clothing all the kids…. NOT THE PARENTS.
Hey! Go easy with my money!
Good point. THEY DON’T actually have any money, OTHER THAN what they extort from us, via taxes.
The President of MY United States does NOT “target” law abiding citizens. Period. Full stop. … and the donkey that rode him in.
i told you guys on this board before that your children are property of the gubment.
“In a memorandum, Garland said there has been “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation’s public schools.”
“While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views,” he said.
Well, Mr Garland, I would first remind you that the government is of, by, and for the people. The government, as well as the public school system, is answerable to us. When our voices are drowned out, dismissed, and ignored—you open the door for confrontation. We had the 2020 Presidential election stolen from us. A lot of noise has been made regarding the Jan 6th “insurrection”
You do not have to like nor approve of the people’s response to deceitful, overbearing, and tyrannical government.
When you take it upon yourselves to run your own little show and force things upon us that we do not support, then retaliation is exactly what you should expect. Anger and resentment towards this administration is running strong—we are tired of your **** and your incompetence. Jan 6th is merely a preview of what is coming your way if you people don’t wake the hell up.
However, he was FIRMLY OK WITH not just harassment, but ACTUAL VIOLENCE towards Trump supporters, BOTH IN the 2016 election, BUT IN 2020 too..
“ITS ok to punch a Nazi”
First, physical threats will get you locked up anywhere. No one should be making those kinds of threats on either side. But, this is not a federal issue. Local cops are perfectly capable of enforcing the law.
This is intimidation, pure and simple. But, don’t think it’s just a threat without teeth. We all see what’s happened to the Jan. 6 protesters. When did school boards become federal? I think we’ve all learned that if Joe Biden can’t convince you, he will force you to go along with his policies.
I’ve watched my local school board stand up to the teachers and parents demanding they teach CRT in our district. There were several public meetings before the board voted it down 3-2. Some people got a little hot but I saw no public threats. My point is that it can be done. We have a right to state our opinions in a civil way. We must use common sense.
Will they? NAME ME one liberal, who actually PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED trump supporters, during the 2016 or 2020 elections, who have even been ARRESTED, let alone charged and/or convicted, and are in jail?!
Here’s a hint. YOU WON’T.
Parents are not the Problem. School Boards and it’s Marxist members are !!!
Communists consider anyone a ‘threat’ who opposes their agenda, and their most important agenda is the indoctrination of your children…
so many good comments about the people’s schools, not the board’s school or Biden’s schools.
Now that a lot of us know what has been happening in our classrooms, it is time to put some common sense back into the schools. And the parents and community DO have the authority to do just that.
The school is NOT the school of 6 to 8 board members, but the school of all the people. For too long as someone above said, we have elected board members without paying enough attention to what they are letting happen behind close doors. And speaking of closed doors, those classroom doors should never be closed to the parents of the children who are in some cases being brain washed with ****. How else would you explain that even my own daughter thinks so much differently than I do? I would always allow for individual thinking, but common sense says it should be with common sense and not just following along blindly.
Jesus Christ is going crack down on you Joe Biden and Merrick Garland! You’re both getting cast into hellfire and brimstone forever.
Jesus Christ didn’t stop the Holocaust, he isn’t going to stop Biden, Garland, or Marxist school boards.
Krinkov545
If Attorney General, Merrick Garland, and democrat Communist President Joe Biden ever gave the slightest Thoughts about where they would made to Answer for their Sins against their Countries citizens they wouldn’t have joined the democrat communist party of America.
Making threats of violence or actually physically accousting someone is NOT going to help the cause. What needs to happen is that school board membership needs to change. Conservatives need to step up, get active, and get elected to positions on the boards. That way change will become internal versus externally trying to push a liberal school board to embrace ideas they see as anathema. It isn’t a quick process but it will be effective.
In addition, those with conservative views also need to get teaching positions. Many school districts are in high need of teachers. In order to turn the tide of liberal indoctrination within the schools there need to be more conservative teachers.
Neither situation will be fixed overnight because the liberals have had decades to bring their liberalism into the classroom and put down roots. However, if we ever want to actually see change for the good we are going to have to look long term, be willing to step up, and take the less exciting and lower paying jobs that will give us access to the students and the curriculum they are being taught.
Are they?? TELL THAT then, to all those companies, that literally BOWED DOWN To antifa/BLM, because of the RIOTS and outright threats.
Let me rephrase that to “conservatives making threats will not help our cause”. We all know there is a double standard.
AND imo that is WHY the left often wins.. WE on the right, are too worried we will be seen as ‘bad/wrong/evil’, if we DO XYZ… THE LEFT DOESN’T CARE HOW THEY LOOK ,as long as they win? SO why shouldn’t we?
The democrat have thought out how to slowly poison the well of America’s public educational Institutions , by Permiting Socialists, Communists, Anti- America, teachers and professors who are allowed to daily indocrinate our future leaders and voters in the countries electionsm Is it any wonder that we end up with the politicians that we do. And if Communists instructing our youth wasn’t bad enough we now have School boards which won’t listen to the citizens about what is taught to their children and our Government threatens parent with charging them with prison as terrorists.
It certainly seems you have to be of a specific ethnic origin to get your way by showing up in large numbers and screaming.
Why do school boards need a national organization. I thought they were controlled locally?
Get involved and displace the swamp creatures!!
That how Socialist/communist do, they tell you what to think and if you disagree they come after you.
Yet its us “Trumpists/parents, who are the “Terrorists/fascists!’
It should be the other way around. The FBI should be investigating who is behind the gay, racist and communist indoctrination of the children. Not the parents objecting to it. Hey teachers leave those kids alone.
So it’s perfectly OK to accost and film a female senator in the bathroom, but parents who demand accountability from their local school boards are domestic terrorists…. got it.
PROOF its not WHAT crime is being done, but who the crime is being perpetrated against, that matters…
Job 31:3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
In other words, DEMOCRATS! LIBERALS!
Obviously, it highly inappropriate for anyone to make death threats to school board members, but the flip side if this issue is that many of these school leaders have brought this controversy on themselves with their own harsh & inappropriate behavior.
If all those who have leadership positions in the schools would stop attacking the rights of the parents & their students, they would soon find that they no longer feel like they’re being “attacked” either!!