The Missouri School Boards Association withdrew its membership from the National School Boards Association this week after the group “demonstrated it does not currently align” with the state’s “guiding principles of local governance.”
“We also believe that no school board or member or educator should ever have to endure threats of violence or acts of intimidation against themselves or their families for making these difficult decisions,” Missouri School Boards Association Executive Director Melissa Randol said in a statement, per The Federalist. “However, attempting to address that issue with federal intervention should not be the first step in most cases, and is antithetical to our longstanding tradition of local control. Further, the use of inflammatory terms in the NSBA letter is not a model for promoting greater civility and respect for the democratic process.”
As previously reported by Human Events News, the National School Boards Association wrote a letter to the White House claiming that school boards face “domestic terrorism and hate crimes” from critics of mask mandates and promoters of “propaganda purporting the false inclusion of critical race theory.”
In response, Merrick Garland said the FBI and U.S. attorneys would have meetings with federal, state and local leaders to form “strategies for addressing threats.”
The Justice Department said in a press release that it would create “specialized training” for school boards and administrators to identify threats, report it to law enforcement and “capture and preserve evidence” to aid in prosecutions.
Randol added that the “NSBA still has significant work ahead, both implementing processes and procedures to prevent similar problems in the future, as well as repairing their fractured relationships.”
Missouri is just one of at least 21 states standing against the National School Boards Association for failing to consult with member states prior to sending the letter.
