FBI Mobilized Against Families

Across our Commonwealth and, frankly, the nation, parents have been showing up at school board meetings demanding accountability for the progressive curricula and ideologies being forced into public schools. Their concerns range from Transgender Policies to Critical Race Theory and beyond. In many localities, school boards’ responses to parent angst have been attempts to silence them. In Charlottesville, the school board has been holding virtual meetings to avoid facing parents. In Loudoun, when parents were testifying, the board shut down the meeting, kicked the parents out of the room, and continued meeting illegally behind barred, closed doors. In Prince William, the school board cut the parent comment period to 30 minutes and banned posters and signs from the meetings unless they are “pre-approved.”  

These inexcusable responses are getting fresh attention as Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former Governor Terry McAuliffe, along with members of President Biden’s Cabinet, are clarifying a larger ideological battle between concerned parents and liberal elites who believe they know what’s best for every father, mother, and child.  

During a September 28 gubernatorial debate, the matter of illicit books in school arose. Republican nominee for Governor Glenn Youngkin reminded the audience of a Family Foundation priority bill passed with bipartisan support in 2016 but vetoed by McAuliffe that would have ensured parents were notified of sexually explicit material in their child’s coursework before it was assigned. 

When pressed, McAuliffe responded, “I’m not gonna let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions,” and followed that up with "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."

Then on September 30, during testimony before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona could not agree with Sen. Mike Braun that parents are the primary stakeholder in a child’s education. Cardona said that “parents are important stakeholders but that educators have a role in determining educational programming.”

As if relegating parents to the backseat of their children’s education isn’t offensive enough, powerful elites aren’t just trying to minimize the role of parents. Now, real efforts are actually underway to criminalize dissent. On September 29, the National School Board Association wrote a letter to President Biden calling on the Administration to classify “these heinous actions [by parents]” as the “equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” While not citing any specific incidents, they simply claimed a generalized increase in “acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials.”  

In the letter, the NSBA “requests a joint expedited review by the U.S. Departments of Justice, Education, and Homeland Security, along with the appropriate training, coordination, investigations, and enforcement mechanisms from the FBI, including any technical assistance necessary from, and state and local coordination with, its National Security Branch and Counterterrorism Division, as well as any other federal agency with relevant jurisdictional authority and oversight.” 

Right on cue, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland weighed in yesterday with a memo to the FBI that it needs to use “its authority and resources to discourage these threats, identify them when they occur, and prosecute them when appropriate.” 

If violence at school boards were becoming a norm, this might be expected and needed – but even then, that’s what the police and security guards are already there to handle. However, little or no evidence exists of an increase in violence against school boards. Sure, there is far greater parent participation and passion. Yes, when school boards abruptly end public testimony and kick parents out of the room, they create an unnecessary, volatile situation. But now they’re weaponizing the federal government against public school parents to create a chilling effect on their free speech!

Maybe the FBI, NSBA, Secretary Cardona, and Attorney General Garland should consider calling for nationwide Educational Savings Accounts to reduce the concern over parent engagement in school board meetings. If parents of all income levels could send their child to a private school, homeschool or other educational situation, they likely wouldn’t be at their local public school board meetings anymore.