When it was released, it seemed like the NSBA letter calling for DOJ to investigate parents might have taken concerns about threats against school board members too far. The backfire potential and potential for it to create a target for opponents seemed real.
Now NSBA – facing pushback from its affiliates in a number of states and not all of them red – is walking it back.
As we’ve discussed, sometimes interest groups forget who signs the paycheck. That catches up with you, and seems to be at least part of what happened here.
Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies this week in the Senate but he should be able to sidestep this. The AG had already carved out a position that was at once somewhat vague and had some nuance about how heavy handed Justice was prepared to be here anyway. He testified before a House committee that,
“I do not believe that parents who testify, speak, argue with, complain about school boards and schools should be classified as domestic terrorists or any kind of criminals.”