A Northern <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/loudoun-schools-honchos-in-perjury-trial-testify-they-cant-remember-almost-anything-about-rape-scandal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Virginia</a> public school district shelled out nearly $600,000 to a girl who alleged that the school district mocked her after she reported a sexual assault, according to a May settlement obtained by The Daily Wire.
Fairfax County Public Schools had initially pledged to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court, where if it prevailed, it would have set a precedent making it difficult for school officials to be held responsible for failing to protect children from sexual harassment. The National School Boards Association, the group that notoriously <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/nsba-white-house-domestic-terrorists-letter">called</a> for anti-terrorist statutes to be deployed against conservative parents, joined the effort by writing a “friend of the court” brief, while 24 women’s and human rights groups filed briefs on the opposing side.
The case stemmed from a 2018 incident in which a 16-year-old student at Oakton High School <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-mcauliffe-linked-law-firm-fighting-virginia-student-who-said-she-was-gang-raped" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alleged</a> that she was sexually violated by a classmate on a school bus during a band trip. Her lawsuit said that a security guard asked if her parents planned to take legal action, and “told Doe that if she went to court she would lose, it would be a waste of money, and ‘the most that could happen to [Assailant] is being charged with battery.&#8217;”
The lawsuit accused the school district of being concerned only about its own potential liability, and not the safety of its students. Emails uncovered during the lawsuit showed administrators joking about the incident, making references to the number of “inches” of the alleged assailant’s penis and to the American Pie quote, “one time at band camp.” A judge <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/questions-mount-over-virginia-schools-lawyer-who-hired-his-former-firm-for-secret-rape-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sanctioned</a> the school system for destroying evidence related to her complaint.
A jury found that Jane Doe had been sexually harassed but that school administrators were not responsible for it. But the case went to appeal based on whether administrators&#8217; responsibility to act kicked in once they had &#8220;notice or knowledge&#8221; of an incident. The district said that although Assistant Principal Jennifer Hogan received allegations of nonconsensual sexual activity, she didn’t view it as such, and therefore didn’t have knowledge of sexual harassment.
Monica Beck, a Title IX attorney who was not involved with the case, previously told The Daily Wire the Doe case was critical to school administrators across the country because it could have set a nationwide precedent making it virtually impossible to hold them responsible for failing to protect children.
“&#8217;We didn’t have ‘actual knowledge’ [and therefore weren&#8217;t required to investigate under Title IX rules] because we didn’t actually know a rape occurred?’ If you don’t investigate, how are you ever going to know for sure that it happened?” Beck said.
The school district was arguing that it should not depend on whether a “reasonable person” would think what they were hearing constituted sexual assault — it should matter what a public school administrator thought. But the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled sided with Doe’s attorney, who said “It cannot be that a school administrator’s failure to understand what constitutes sexual harassment is an absolute bar to liability.” It sent the case back for a new trial based on faulty jury instructions.
Appellate Judge James Wynn wrote that FCPS was also arguing that the assault “was committed by another student and the school had no prior warning it would occur, such as a previous infraction.” But “the statute itself makes plain that a school may be held liable when it makes a student vulnerable to sexual harassment by their peers, such as by failing to respond appropriately after learning of an initial incident of sexual assault. In other words, schools do not get ‘<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/school-board-association-asks-supreme-court-for-what-judge-calls-one-free-rape" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one free rape,</a>’” he wrote.
FCPS sought to take the case to the Supreme Court, but in November, the high court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/21-968.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refused</a> to hear it.
On May 9, 2023, the school district quietly settled the case by agreeing to pay <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23871109-vfoia-9151_rshsigned_20230510-doe-v-fcsb-does-executed-settlement-agreement_redacted" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$587,500</a> to the student, according to a settlement agreement obtained by The Daily Wire under public records laws. “The Parties acknowledge and agree that by entering into this Agreement, the School Board does not admit any wrongdoing, fault, or liability of any kind whatsoever,” the agreement said.
Doe&#8217;s attorney, Adele Kimmel, did not return a request for comment.
Shatter the Silence, a group that has called attention to the school district’s handling of sexual abuse welcomed news of the settlement.
“We’re pleased that Jane Doe finally got some form of justice,&#8221; the group said in a statement to The Daily Wire. &#8220;It only took fighting FCPS and its rape defense lawyers at Hunton Andrews Kurth in every level of the judiciary. But we’re disappointed that Jennifer Hogan&#8230; is still employed and overseeing children at Oakton High School.”
An FCPS spokesman declined to say how much money it spent fighting the case, or whether Hogan, who has since been promoted to principal, has faced any repercussions.
“The costs of a new trial were expected to significantly exceed the amount of this settlement. We hope this mutual resolution will allow all parties to move forward,&#8221; the district said in a statement. &#8220;Fairfax County Public Schools remains deeply committed to a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment for all students.”

Terrified young woman sit on floor with shadow of grabbing hands as a threat

School District Pays $600k To Settle Sexual Harassment Lawsuit After SCOTUS Declines To Hear ‘One Free Rape’ Case

Education

National School Boards Association

Sexual Assault

Title IX

Virginia

A top leader in a national school psychologists&#8217; association is participating in a group that funds efforts to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-trans-group-behind-virginia-school-walkout-plans-to-rehome-gay-kids-who-hate-their-parents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rehome gay youth</a> to new parents, internal materials obtained by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a> reveal.
Amy Cannava, chair of the National Association Of School Psychologists’ (NASP) LGBTQI2-S Committee, participated in discussions on the internal message board for the Pride Liberation Project (PLP). The group&#8217;s “Resources For Outed Students” section advised &#8220;students who are facing familial rejection or need to leave their home for another reason&#8221; to &#8220;[r]each out to Amy (she/her) immediately. They work with Safe Space NOVA, are an adult, and can provide you with much more information. They are also confidential.&#8221;
The section went on to say that PLP could rehome students who did not like their parents, as well as pay them money and have an adult pick them up to take them to their new lives. It also said the group could provide false documentation to hide children’s whereabouts while they participated in gay activities. &#8220;In the event of you needing to leave your home, we can provide you with emergency housing from a supportive, Queer friendly adult,” it said. It added: &#8220;We will work with other supportive adult organizations in the region to find you someone who can provide you a kind and affirming home.&#8221;
PLP was the subject of glowing national media attention September 27 when it claimed that it got 12,000 students to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trans-student-walkout-group-admits-most-just-wanted-to-skip-school-boasts-about-tricking-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">walk out</a> of class to protest draft <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/virginia-replaces-democrats-mandatory-transgender-policy-with-parents-rights-manifesto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guidance</a> from Virginia’s Department of Education that said schools should not hide a student’s gender transition for parents, and that schools should accommodate a student’s gender transition, but do so only with the permission of parents.
That same day, <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/professional-development/a-closer-look/advocacy-in-the-face-of-adversity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASP published</a> a blog post by Cannava describing her efforts to undermine the state initiative, which she described as &#8220;horrific.&#8221;
&#8220;This generation of youth is more politically informed and aware than I can wrap my head around. These kids know their basic human rights have been challenged by the state department of education, and even worse, the state has used fancy words which make the policy reversal seem like it’s in the best interest of &#8216;all&#8217; children and families,&#8221; she wrote. She demanded that school districts shield staff members who ignore the guidance, asking administrators, &#8220;How will you defend staff who continue to act in the best interest of students, who are consistent with professional ethics but now in violation of impending policy?&#8221;
<blockquote>
<h1>&#8220;I want to see a kid in a home with food and shelter and insurance and support, but I also don’t want to lose kids to death. &#8230; You have to sometimes break rules to do good for kids.”</h1>
</blockquote>
Cannava, who works as a counselor at <a href="https://wakefield.apsva.us/counseling/meet-the-wakefield-counseling-staff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wakefield High School</a> in Arlington, Virginia, told The Daily Wire: “School staff are not at liberty to speak to the press.”
But she has spoken freely in other public forums. In a September 2020 <a href="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/out-what-now/supporting-lgbtq-students-in-6nNH0uwBcyf/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">podcast</a> called “Out, What Now?” she said, “There comes a point unfortunately for many of these kids where they have to make a choice between their life and their family. And it shouldn’t be that way, but I want to see a kid in a home with food and shelter and insurance and support, but I also don’t want to lose kids to death.”
“I will not deny the fact that I have put parents in their place in my office or at school. And people around me go, ‘can you do that?’ And I go, ‘I don’t know but I just did. If I’m not here tomorrow, you know that I can’t,’” she continued. “You have to sometimes break rules to do good for kids.”
“I had a record day where five kids came out to me. I said ‘this is amazing and exhausting all at the same time.’ … Most of the time it’s like, ‘I think I’m trans,’ which really means ‘I am trans,’” she said.
In a July 2022 <a href="https://www.megsthebrand.com/episode81">episode</a> of the same podcast, she described evading requirements for parental permission. “I recognize that parental consent is a big deal, but when I’m doing anything LGBT, I don’t worry about that. &#8230; Let’s be honest, it’s an electronic permission slip. You type in a parent&#8217;s name and I’m like ‘oh that parent signed consent.’ There&#8217;s no actual signature.”
“I do love my neuro- and gender-diverse kids, those are like my favorite,” she said.
When it comes to her own sexuality, she is pansexual, she said. “I identify as queer but I’m attracted to a very small but growing percentage of the population, and so more trans-masculine non-binary folx who may or may not like women… When I’m dating more trans-masculine people, one of the first things I ask or even when I go out with them is ‘how out are you and what are you out as?’ which is the same thing I ask my students.”
<div class="image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-445916" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ss1-1.png" alt="" width="718" height="569" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/ss1-1.png 718w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/ss1-1-300x238.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 718px) 100vw, 718px" /></div>
<div class="image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-445918" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ss2-1-376x576.png" alt="" width="376" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/ss2-1-376x576.png 376w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/ss2-1-196x300.png 196w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/ss2-1.png 718w" sizes="(max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px" /></div>
Jordan Costen-Sumpter, the executive director of Safe Space NOVA, told The Daily Wire, &#8220;Safe Space NOVA has no role in &#8216;rehoming&#8217; and this has been made clear to the PLP prior to now and reiterated again today. PLP is a student-run organization. It is separate from Safe Space NOVA though many of the youth participate in both.&#8221;
&#8220;Amy is not affiliated with PLP. She has corrected some of the misinformation the youth have shared on the Discord server when she has the opportunity to, but the PLP Discord is not monitored by us nor do we have any role in their decisions,&#8221; she said.
However, in the materials reviewed by The Daily Wire, which were on the private server of an ostensibly youth-led group, Cannava’s role was not limited to correcting misinformation. In one post, she said she was looking for kids &#8220;13-15 (minors must have parental consent) looking to be interviewed on camera late next week about their experience has [sic] trans, gender nonconforming, gender fluid, non-binary, gender queer etc. in schools. Interested? DM me!&#8221;
NASP oversees the <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/standards-and-certification/national-certification" target="_blank" rel="noopener">credentialing</a> of school psychologists for many school districts, and Cannava has <a href="https://schoolpsych.com/course/two-live-presentations-by-amy-cannava-ed-s-ncsp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provided</a> LGBTQ training that psychologists can use to meet their training requirements. Katherine Cowan, a spokeswoman for NASP, said, &#8220;Neither NASP nor Amy condone efforts to provide monetary or housing support to minors who are in safe home environments.&#8221;
<blockquote>
<h1>“I identify as queer but I’m attracted to a very small but growing percentage of the population, and so more trans-masculine non-binary folx.&#8221;</h1>
</blockquote>
&#8220;When our ethical standards are in conflict with policy or law, our standards encourage school psychologists to advocate for change in such policies/laws. Advocacy is not breaking the law. Amy is not in violation of either the law or our standards,&#8221; she told The Daily Wire.
She did not respond to a question about whether the view that the Virginia draft policy contradicts NASP ethics means that NASP believes gender transition should be hidden from parents. She also did not respond to questions about why conservative states should use NASP credentialing, a situation that draws parallels to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/25-states-have-now-left-national-school-boards-association-as-nebraska-departs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National School Board Association</a> — which lost half of its membership after imploding its credibility by working with Democrats to minimize the role of parents in schools.
Cannava said in an NASP <a href="https://apps.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/podcasts/player.aspx?id=312" target="_blank" rel="noopener">podcast</a> — in which she advocated for a person with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome who became transgender at age 11 — that the group was “in the process of revising our transgender position statement to support gender diverse youth and that should be published in the next year and it includes &#8230; hearing the person and providing access and validation to their voice.”
In the “Out, Now What?” podcast, Cannava — whose <a href="https://www.instagram.com/rainstormstorainbows/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a> page features anal condoms next to a logo saying &#8220;Protect Trans Kids&#8221; — said she was working with a state delegate &#8220;on a child protection bill that would make it illegal to not affirm.&#8221; She referred to Governor Glenn Youngkin as “Trumpkin” and said his assistant superintendent for education belonged to a “hate group,” prefacing a lengthy attack on the official with, “let&#8217;s see if I’m employed next year.”
A leader of PLP separately said of disobeying the state policy: “They can say you have to implement these, but if there’s no enforcement mechanism, you’re not gonna do s***.”
Charles Pyle, a spokesman for the Department of Education, told the Daily Wire school districts could face lawsuits. &#8220;Any parent, custodian, or legal guardian of a pupil attending the public schools in a school division who is aggrieved by an action of the school board may, within thirty days after such action, petition the circuit court having jurisdiction in the school division to review the action of the school board,&#8221; he said.
Erika Sanzi of Parents Defending Education, which advocates for parental rights, told the Daily Wire it was no surprise that ideological school staff were behind the supposedly organic student group. &#8220;Adults with an agenda know that students serve as excellent foot soldiers and this is especially true when school employees work in coordination with outside activist entities like the Pride Liberation Group. There was never any doubt that this was adult-driven, but the details of the dishonesty and willingness to manipulate children are egregious,&#8221; she said.

Amy Cannava

Top National School Psychologist Part Of Group Offering To Resettle Gay Kids With New Parents

Top National School Psychologist Part Of Group Offering To Resettle Gay Kids With New, 'Queer Friendly' Parents

LGBTQ

Transgender

The Nebraska Association of School Boards (NASB) has left the National School Boards Association (NSBA), making it the 25th state to exit.
The NASB&#8217;s decision on Saturday adds to a mass exodus of departures following a September letter that compared upset parents at school board meetings to domestic terrorists.
&#8220;President Brad Wilkins confirmed that they will not pay dues to the NSBA this year. The money would have been due by June 30,&#8221; <a href="https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/nebraska-school-board-group-cuts-ties-with-national-association/article_20fa52dc-e758-11ec-a45e-0f06a12e525f.html#:~:text=Background,-Semi%2DTransparent&amp;text=The%20board%20of%20directors%20for,made%20against%20school%20board%20members." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the Omaha World-Herald.
In addition to Nebraska, <a href="https://defendinged.org/press-releases/state-school-board-associations-responses-to-the-nsba-letter/#:~:text=As%20of%20December%208th%2C%2028,Ohio%2C%20Pennsylvania%2C%20South%20Carolina%2C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24 other states</a> have left the NSBA, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
A total of 30 states have distanced themselves from the national association since the September letter, according to Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit that <a href="https://defendinged.org/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describes</a> itself as “a national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists imposing harmful agendas,”
The NSBA board sent a letter in September asking federal law enforcement to investigate threats against school officials as domestic terrorism, including implementing the use of the Patriot Act.
“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/05/21/nsba-report-domestic-terrorism-parents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> read in part.
In a Texas <a href="https://nsba.org/-/media/Files/NSBA-Report.pdf?la=en&amp;hash=A001354D23C9AE88B54D398270C9790D91B01FF9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">independent investigation</a> prior to its departure from the NSBA in May, it was found that the NSBA had previously apologized for the letter. However, according to a Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/texas-school-board-group-cuts-ties-nsba">report</a>, interim CEO and executive director Chip Slaven “was behind the Letter, both in origin and substance” and prematurely had exchanges with a senior education advisor at the White House on the letter’s release.
The Texas Association of School Boards determined that the apology was insufficient to change its decision to leave the national association, a move repeated by a growing number of states.
The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-sasse-and-others-want-ag-garland-back-in-hot-seat-the-fbi-should-be-going-after-mobsters-not-soccer-moms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Senate Republicans had called for Attorney General Merrick Garland to return to Capitol Hill to face additional questions about the Justice Department’s role in addressing tensions between parents and school boards in November.
“We remain deeply concerned that your October 4 Memorandum is being used by the DOJ and the FBI as a basis to pursue investigations against American parents for First Amendment-protected activities,” the letter read.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Senate Judiciary GOP calls upon AG Merrick Garland to testify before them again: “We remain deeply concerned that your October 4 Memorandum is being used by the DOJ and the FBI as a basis to pursue investigations against American parents for First Amendment-protected activities.” <a href="https://t.co/yMrnJ8iuCu">pic.twitter.com/yMrnJ8iuCu</a>
&mdash; Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) <a href="https://twitter.com/JerryDunleavy/status/1465491869949956099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“You stated that the ‘purpose of this Memorandum is to get our law enforcement to assess the extent of the problem’ and that the Memo ‘comes before investigations.’ When asked why the DOJ was treating parents at school boards as domestic terrorists, you said: ‘[m]y Memo says nothing about domestic terrorism, says nothing about parents committing any such things,” the letter continued.

Merrick Garland

25 States Have Now Left National School Boards Association As Nebraska Departs

Nebraska

Parental Rights in Education

The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) has announced it is leaving its membership with the National School Boards Association (NSBA) following a letter the group sent to the Department of Justice asking it to crack down on “threats of violence and acts of intimidation” at local school board meetings which “could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
TASB Executive Director Dan Troxell shared the announcement in a press release on Monday following an independent investigation into the letter commissioned by the NSBA.
“We have been intently waiting for the release of this independent investigation for nearly two months,” TASB Executive Director Dan Troxell said in the <a href="https://www.tasb.org/about-tasb/news-and-media/news-releases/2022/tasb-announces-the-end-of-its-membership-in-the-national-school-boards-association.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
“With this report now available, it’s clear that NSBA’s internal processes and controls do not meet the good governance practices that TASB expects and requires in a member organization,&#8221; he added.
Troxell added that the NSBA&#8217;s new leadership had made some improvements, but the changes were not enough to alter the TASB&#8217;s decision.
“Our decision to end our membership in the NSBA will not impact TASB’s work to ensure Texas public education has a strong voice and presence in Washington, D.C.,” Troxell stated. “As always, we’re focused on supporting our members and the advancement of their advocacy agenda — both here in Austin and in our nation’s capital.”
The TASB represents more than 5.4 million students across Texas, making it one of the largest school board associations in the nation.
The decision makes Texas one of 30 states that have &#8220;distanced&#8221; themselves from the association in recent months over a controversial letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Many have left the NSBA.
<a href="https://defendinged.org/press-releases/state-school-board-associations-responses-to-the-nsba-letter/#:~:text=As%20of%20December%208th%2C%2028,Ohio%2C%20Pennsylvania%2C%20South%20Carolina%2C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Parents Defending Education,</a> a nonprofit that describes itself as &#8220;a national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists imposing harmful agendas,&#8221; listed the following states that have all distanced themselves from the NSBA: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The <a href="https://nsba.org/-/media/Files/NSBA-Report.pdf?la=en&amp;hash=A001354D23C9AE88B54D398270C9790D91B01FF9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">independent investigation</a> noted that while the NSBA had previously apologized for the letter, that interim CEO and executive director Chip Slaven &#8220;was behind the Letter, both in origin and substance&#8221; and prematurely had exchanges with a senior education advisor at the White House on the letter&#8217;s release, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/texas-school-board-group-cuts-ties-nsba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> Fox News.
&#8220;Slaven wrote the letter in &#8216;response to the growing tensions at local school board meetings made manifest by the divide in public opinion in the then-ongoing debate about when and how public-school students should return to in-person instruction&#8217; following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, the NSBA report said,&#8221; Fox reported.
The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-sasse-and-others-want-ag-garland-back-in-hot-seat-the-fbi-should-be-going-after-mobsters-not-soccer-moms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Senate Republicans had called for Garland to return to Capitol Hill and face additional questions about the Justice Department’s role in addressing tensions between parents and school boards in November.
“We remain deeply concerned that your October 4 Memorandum is being used by the DOJ and the FBI as a basis to pursue investigations against American parents for First Amendment-protected activities,” the letter read.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Senate Judiciary GOP calls upon AG Merrick Garland to testify before them again: “We remain deeply concerned that your October 4 Memorandum is being used by the DOJ and the FBI as a basis to pursue investigations against American parents for First Amendment-protected activities.” <a href="https://t.co/yMrnJ8iuCu">pic.twitter.com/yMrnJ8iuCu</a>
&mdash; Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) <a href="https://twitter.com/JerryDunleavy/status/1465491869949956099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“You stated that the ‘purpose of this Memorandum is to get our law enforcement to assess the extent of the problem’ and that the Memo ‘comes before investigations.’ When asked why the DOJ was treating parents at school boards as domestic terrorists, you said: ‘[m]y Memo says nothing about domestic terrorism, says nothing about parents committing any such things,” the letter continued.

Texas School Board Group Leaves National School Boards Association After Report On ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Letter

Texas School Board Group Leaves National School Boards Association After Report On 'Domestic Terrorism' Letter

Texas

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) considered calling for the federal government to use the “Army National Guard and its Military Police” against parents who made threats toward school officials before deleting the language from its September 29 letter to President Joe Biden, according to an independent review released on Friday.
The final version of the NSBA letter urged Biden’s Department of Justice to crack down on “threats of violence and acts of intimidation” at local school board meetings which &#8220;could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” Days later, Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the FBI to investigate a recent spike in “harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” against school board members — a move seen by many parents as an attempt to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/17-state-ags-condemn-doj-targeting-school-board-meetings-trying-to-chill-lawful-dissent-by-parents">chill free speech</a> among those concerned about progressive curricula in public schools.
The NSBA has since <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nsba-apologizes-for-letter-describing-potential-domestic-terrorism-at-school-board-meetings">apologized</a>, explaining that there was “no justification for some of the language included in the letter” and retaining attorney Philip Kiko of the law firm Michael Best &amp; Friedrich to examine the events and procedures surrounding the letter. The firm’s <a href="https://nsba.org/-/media/Files/NSBA-Report.pdf?la=en&amp;hash=A001354D23C9AE88B54D398270C9790D91B01FF9">independent review</a> showed that NSBA leadership went back and forth on a call for military intervention in certain cases. 
One line — later deleted by then-interim CEO Chip Slaven — said: “We ask that the Army National Guard and its Military Police be deployed to certain school districts and related events where students and school personnel have been subjected to acts and threats of violence.&#8221; 
Slaven said on September 22 he initially “went back and forth” on the decision to include the sentence, according to a comprehensive timeline of events included in the review. “I think we should leave it out for now. I am concerned it could be seen as us asking for too much of a federal intervention. However, if things start to get bad, we can revisit.”
The call for potential military intervention was deleted on September 24 — five days before the letter was sent to Biden.
One month after the final letter was publicized, a report from <a href="https://freebeacon.com/campus/white-house-knew-about-letter-that-compared-parents-to-domestic-terrorists/">The Washington Free Beacon</a> revealed that the Biden administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nsba-collaborated-with-white-house-before-letter-describing-domestic-terrorism-at-school-board-meetings-report">collaborated</a> with the National School Boards Association before the document was sent. While the original letter did acknowledge “recent discussions with White House and U.S. Department of Education staff on many critical issues facing public schools, including threats school officials are receiving,” emails obtained by Parents Defending Education showed the NSBA was in talks with the White House before the letter was released — and that the letter was sent without prior approval from the organization’s board.
The NSBA quickly began to collapse in the wake of the incident. In December, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/national-school-board-group-bleeding-membership-and-money-after-comparing-parents-to-terrorists">The Washington Examiner</a> reported that the National School Boards Association “is looking at a shortfall of at least $1.1 million” as multiple state-level school boards associations distanced themselves from the national entity.
For example, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-final-straw-pa-school-board-assn-withdraws-from-national-assn-after-domestic-terrorism-letter">wrote</a>: “The most recent national controversy surrounding a letter to President Biden suggesting that some parents should be considered domestic terrorists was the final straw.”
“This misguided approach has made our work and that of many school boards more difficult,” the memo asserted. “It has fomented more disputes and cast partisanship on our work on behalf of school directors when we seek to find common ground and support all school directors in their work, no matter their politics. Now is not the time for more politics and posturing, it is the time for solutions to the many challenges facing education.”
“It has been a struggle for the board and leadership of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association to identify a reason to continue to be a part of a federation that is not focused on bipartisanship, civility and seeking solutions to the internal problems that have plagued the national organization for so long.”

San Francisco Recall

NSBA’s First Draft Of ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Letter Called For Feds To Sic ‘Army National Guard And Its Military Police’ On Parents, Independent Review Shows

NSBA’s First Draft Of ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Letter Called For Feds To Deploy ‘Army National Guard And Its Military Police’ On Parents, Independent Review Shows

Department of Justice

Joe Biden

A black father of a child at an elite public school is facing four Class 3 Misdemeanor charges for accusing a leftist education activist of exhibiting “grooming” behavior. 
The charges stem from a dispute over education policy between parent Harry Jackson — a former Naval intelligence officer whose child attends Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax, Virginia — and Jorge Torrico, a member of the TJ Alumni Action Group, which was advocating for abolishing an entrance exam to the school at the time. 
The tweet was written in November 2020, after Torrico attended an online TJ PTSA meeting — despite not having a child at the school — and interacted with the student government president, a high school senior. Torrico asked the student leader about outreach he was doing for a middle school leadership event. In the chat, Torrico wrote: “outreach is very key for equity.” The student president asked Torrico for his email. 
The next day, Jackson, a high school football and lacrosse referee, wrote on Twitter, “It was very disturbing seeing you exhibit &#8216;grooming&#8217; behavior. I do work with children and I get background checks, I suggest you do the same because last night was creepy.&#8221;
TJ Principal Ann Bonitatibus also expressed concerns about Torrico’s interaction with the student in a November 23, 2020, email: “the original question that was posed by the parent about selection for the leadership summit would have been best addressed to a middle school principal, not to our SGA students… An exchange such as what happened on the Zoom meeting, while all within the public eye, is proof positive why FCPS has clear guidelines for which platforms are used for adults to interact with students.”
Torrico did not immediately return a request for comment filed through the TJ Alumni Action Group. 
The charges come even as Fairfax County prosecutor Steve Descano — a progressive who narrowly won his primary election with the help of funding from George Soros — has pledged not to prosecute minor crimes that &#8220;disproportionately hurt people of color,&#8221; and routinely<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-fairfax-prosecutors-decision-to-sit-out-many-misdemeanor-cases-is-a-mistake/2021/04/23/5ea92bda-a3c0-11eb-a774-7b47ceb36ee8_story.html"> declines</a> to pursue crimes he deems minor.
Last month, Descano&#8217;s office let off a woman who allegedly violently abused an infant. On March 18, the office told the judge it would not pursue the woman because &#8220;there are no ACA’s [prosecutors] available for a four-day jury trial beginning on March 21, 2022.&#8221;
Descano did not immediately return a Daily Wire request for comment.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-363740 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/harry-jackson-complaint-745x576.jpg" alt="" width="745" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/harry-jackson-complaint-745x576.jpg 745w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/harry-jackson-complaint-300x232.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/harry-jackson-complaint-768x593.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/harry-jackson-complaint-1536x1187.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/harry-jackson-complaint.jpg 1650w" sizes="(max-width: 745px) 100vw, 745px" />
Fairfax’s all-Democrat school board ultimately abolished the entrance test in early 2021. Jackson and other parents, through a group called Coalition for TJ, filed a lawsuit alleging that the move was illegal and discriminated against Asians. Torrico and the TJ Alumni Action Group supported the school board.
On September 23, 2021, Torrico went before a Fairfax County magistrate and filed two criminal complaints against Jackson. He called attention to Jackson’s role in suing the school district, writing, “Harry R. Jackson is a plaintiff on two lawsuits against FCPS.”
Magistrate Richard M. Miller issued two misdemeanor summons against Jackson citing<a href="https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title18.2/chapter9/article3/"> Section 18.2-417</a>, an obscure law enacted in 1950 making it illegal to “slander and libel” the chastity of a woman. In the 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the criminalization of speech protected by the First Amendment, but the Virginia statute has remained in code. In 2020, the Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature<a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0900"> changed the language</a> to make it illegal to express “words derogatory” about a “person’s character for virtue and chastity,” instead of a “female’s character.”
The summons said Jackson&#8217;s words could break the law by being insults that “tend to violence and breach of the peace.”
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-363742 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/harry-jackson-summons-745x576.jpg" alt="" width="745" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/harry-jackson-summons-745x576.jpg 745w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/harry-jackson-summons-300x232.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/harry-jackson-summons-768x593.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/harry-jackson-summons-1536x1187.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/harry-jackson-summons.jpg 1584w" sizes="(max-width: 745px) 100vw, 745px" />
Jackson’s attorney argued that amounted to &#8220;the criminalization of protected writings or statements, First Amendment speech — ignoring the face-to-face fighting words requirement of constitutionally-permissible criminalization.”
In January 2022, two Fairfax County police officers served Jackson at his home. Jackson recorded a video of himself receiving the summons. 
On February 23, an attorney for Jackson asked a Fairfax County judge to dismiss the case. But Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Paul Vitali sought a continuance and received a hearing date for April 22. 
Two days later, federal judge Claude Hilton ruled in favor of Jackson&#8217;s group on the TJ admissions lawsuit, deciding that the new admissions policy is discriminatory to Asian American students.
Two weeks after that, on March 14, 2022, Torrico filed two more criminal complaints, alleging that Jackson appeared on a local cable show and said Torrico had “exhibited grooming behavior,” and that nearly a year prior, he had tweeted “Poor attempt at character assassination from a person who stalks kids online.” A Fairfax County magistrate again issued two misdemeanor summons’ against Jackson.
The school board has said it will appeal the ruling that its abolishing of the TJ admissions test discriminates against Asians, and on March 31, a federal court agreed to let the new admissions system remain in place while the appeal is pending.
Jackson’s attorney Marina Medvin filed a<a href="https://medvinlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Motion-to-Dismiss-First-Amendment.pdf"> motion to dismiss</a> his cases on Friday, arguing that they are unconstitutional. According to court records in Fairfax County General District Court, a judge will hold a hearing on the motion on April 8, 2022. 
If they are not dismissed, Jackson faces an April 22 court date.
Luke Rosiak is the author of the book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Race-Bottom-Uncovering-Destroying-Education/dp/0063056720/">Race To the Bottom: Uncovering the Secret Forces Destroying American Public Education</a>.
The Daily Wire is building up its investigative reporting team to bring you the stories the legacy media refuse to cover. Support journalism that matters and join one of the fastest-growing conservative media companies in America by becoming a Daily Wire member <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">today</a>.

Harry Jackson served

Dad Facing Criminal Charges For Accusing Woke Activist Of ‘Grooming’

A 14-state coalition has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Biden administration demanding the government provide records on any FBI surveillance of parents. The lawsuit comes after the National School Boards Association suggested the Department of Justice treat parents concerned about the direction of schools as potential domestic terrorists.
The Biden administration has failed to respond to FOIA <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/INAG/2021/10/26/file_attachments/1977004/Letter%20to%20POTUS%20and%20US%20AG.pdf">requests</a> filed by Republican Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and other states last fall seeking federal officials&#8217; communications prior to the October 2021 &#8220;threats&#8221; memo. Rokita is taking the lead on the effort, joined by chief legal advisors in Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.
&#8220;We just want the facts,” said Rokita. &#8220;Rather than cooperate, the Biden administration has sought to conceal and downplay its culpability. What are they hiding? Why won’t they come clean? Hoosiers and all Americans deserve to know.&#8221;
The lawsuit takes aim at Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. The AGs are asking a U.S. district court to instruct the administration to respond to the requests, according to Fox News. The White House declined to comment on the lawsuit, and directed The Daily Wire to the DOJ.
NSBA&#8217;s letter was followed by Garland directing the FBI in a memo to lead a task force addressing threats to school officials and report the threats. A spokesperson for the White House then <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-says-meeting-with-nsba-prior-to-doj-memo-release-was-standard-practice">claimed</a> it was not involved in the DOJ memo and that the department &#8220;chose to take this approach on their own.&#8221;
Still, Garland testified in October 2021 that he was &#8220;sure that the communication from the National Association of School Boards was discussed between the White House and the Justice Department and that’s perfectly appropriate,&#8221; according to the lawsuit.
Soon after the memo was issued, Republican attorneys general wrote to the administration demanding its withdrawal. They asked the government to &#8220;cease any further actions designed to intimidate parents from expressing their opinions on the education of their children&#8221; and &#8220;respect their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and to raise their children,&#8221; the lawsuit states.
Upon NSBA&#8217;s letter, 41 Republicans <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/41-republicans-demand-cardona-resign-links-nsba-letter-protesting-parents">called</a> on Cardona to resign. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) led the demand and called the president&#8217;s prior &#8220;unity&#8221; message in conflict with likening concerned parents to terrorists.
Elana Fishbein, president of the group No Left Turn in Education, sent a letter to Garland in January urging him to investigate the &#8220;crisis&#8221; in schools related to adults sexualizing children. Fishbein cited numerous examples throughout the country.
&#8220;We are trying to push for a Senate and House hearing on this issue,&#8221; Fishbein told The Daily Wire.
Asra Nomani, another parent activist and journalist who is vice president for strategy and investigations at Parents Defending Education, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/parent-advocate-takes-stand-against-crt-house-judiciary-meeting-1684375">testified</a> before the House Judiciary Committee this week. Wearing a shirt with the words &#8220;I am a Mom, not a domestic terrorist,&#8221; Nomani discussed Critical Race Theory in schools and Asian discrimination.
&#8220;No child in America should ever feel shame. No child should ever feel discrimination, and it is unconscionable that we do not recognize that,&#8221; said Nomani in the hearing. &#8220;We must protect the integrity of humanity.&#8221;
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Domestic Terrorists

States File FOIA Lawsuit Against Biden Admin Demanding Info On Any FBI Surveillance Of Parents

School Boards

Fairfax County Public Schools has asked the Supreme Court to hear a case that an appeals court judge said amounted to schools asking to get “one free rape” before staff could be responsible for inaction.
The National School Boards Association (NSBA) wrote a “friend-of-the-court” brief supporting Fairfax’s position. NSBA previously wrote a letter comparing parents to potential domestic terrorists, specifically <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/loudoun-county-schools-tried-to-conceal-sexual-assault-against-daughter-in-bathroom-father-says">singling out a father who was angry</a> at the school board because his daughter was raped at school.
The schools groups are hoping the high court will intervene to block a case brought by a teenage girl, known as Jane Doe, against the school system from going to trial.
The case places the NSBA and the Virginia school district up against the National Women&#8217;s Law Center, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Black Women&#8217;s Reproductive Justice Agenda, and other feminist, liberal, or survivors-rights groups, all of whom filed an opposing friend-of-the-court brief. National groups have a strong interest in the case because the legal question could set a precedent that would insulate school systems and staff from liability for failing to take action after they learn about an alleged sexual assault on school grounds.
Shatter the Silence, a group of survivors of sexual assault within Fairfax schools and their families, said in a statement: &#8220;The Fairfax County School Board has no shame. Board members plaster their equity commitments on Twitter and pass empty resolutions claiming that inclusion and civil rights guide their governance. In reality, they spend taxpayer money asking the Supreme Court to enshrine a &#8216;one free rape&#8217; safe harbor for schools that fail to properly investigate allegations of student sexual abuse.”
Fourteen thousand people have signed a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/stop-fairfax-county-public-schools-from-messing-with-title-ix-at-the-supreme-court-schools-should-not-get-one-free-rape">petition</a> calling for FCPS to drop the appeal, as well as for the state attorney general to investigate the school district&#8217;s handling of sexual assaults.
FCPS said in a statement that it asked the Supreme Court to hear the case in order to help teachers. “The question in this case is only about whether Congress intended America’s public schools, and the teachers that work in them, to be held financially responsible for student-on-student misconduct that they had no way to foresee and did not cause,” it said.
“To fail to challenge the Fourth Circuit&#8217;s ruling would be to let down public school educators the length and breadth of the U.S., and especially in Virginia, during a time when they need support more than ever,” it added. “Fairfax County Public Schools is committed to upholding Title IX and firmly believes that every student deserves an education free from harassment or discrimination. The decision to pursue this legal avenue has nothing to do with challenging this critical civil rights law.”
However, in its <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-968/206946/20211230130726682_21-__PetitionForWritOfCertiorari.pdf">petition</a> to the court filed December 30, it described the issue differently, saying the high court would be settling the question of “Whether the requirement of ‘actual knowledge’&#8230; is met when a [school] lacks a subjective belief that any harassment actionable under Title IX occurred.”
That’s a reference to school officials’ duty to investigative under Title IX after learning of an incident. Title IX attorney Monica Beck, who was not involved in the case, previously told The Daily Wire the district was claiming that being told of an alleged incident was not enough to clear that bar, creating a catch-22.
“’We didn’t have ‘actual knowledge’ [and therefore have to investigate according to Title IX rules] because we didn’t actually know a rape occurred?’ If you don’t investigate, how are you ever going to know for sure that it happened?” she said.
On June 16, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, led by Judge James Wynn, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-968/199821/20211112171304543_Appendix%20--%20with%20table%20of%20contents.pdf">ruled against</a> FCPS, and ordered that Doe should have her day in court.
On August 30, it declined FCPS&#8217; request to rehear the case with a larger group – known as en banc – with Wynn contradicting FCPS’ characterization of the issue, writing that no one was contending “that a school can face ‘retroactive’ liability for the assault itself when the assault was committed by another student and the school had no prior warning it would occur&#8230; [rather,] a school may be held liable for its own behavior in response to a peer assault.”
“Surely a student is subjected to discrimination on the basis of sex when they report a sexual assault by a fellow student on school property and are met with nothing more than a collective shrug of the shoulders—or, worse still, with accusatory questions or flat-out blame,” he wrote.
The schools argued, he said, that “Title IX does not make clear that schools may be held liable for their response to a single instance of sexual harassment,” but “The statute itself makes plain that a school may be held liable when it makes a student vulnerable to sexual harassment by their peers, such as by failing to respond appropriately after learning of an initial incident of sexual assault. In other words, schools do not get ‘one free rape.’”
“That’s why the Department of Justice, Department of Education, and several of our sister circuits have correctly concluded that a single, severe instance of peer-on-peer harassment can lead to liability for the school where the school’s response (or lack thereof) leaves the victim vulnerable to additional harassment,” he continued.
He described the background of the case:
<blockquote>This case involves a sexual assault that a jury found took place on a school bus during a band trip. The plaintiff, “Jane Doe,” sat next to “Jack Smith,” an older student. Doe alleges that Smith repeatedly touched her breasts and genitals and penetrated her vagina with his fingers despite her efforts to physically block him, and that he also repeatedly put her hand on his penis even after she moved it away. She testified at trial that during this incident, she felt so “confused,” “shocked,” and “scared” that she was “frozen in fear the whole time.”
Doe, her friends, and her parents repeatedly reported the incident to the school. Yet a reasonable jury could conclude that these reports were met with deliberate indifference. To summarize just a few pieces of evidence the jury could view in Doe’s favor: school officials took no action to protect Doe or to offer emotional support to her during the five-day band trip; instead, the principal made an inappropriate joke about the incident in an email; after the band trip, the school’s Safety and Security Specialist asked victim-blaming questions such as what Doe was wearing and why she did not scream; and school officials discussed with Doe (but not with Smith!) the possibility of being disciplined for engaging in sexual activity on a school trip</blockquote>
Laura Jane Cohen, a Fairfax school board member who has used her perch to advocate for gender issues such as transgender and women’s rights, but whose campaign was also backed by teachers unions, did not return a request for comment on the board&#8217;s decision to fight Doe all the way to the Supreme Court.
The National School Boards Association did not return a request for comment.
The law firm representing Fairfax is Hunton Andrews LLP, which formerly employed failed candidate for Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, and is a successor of the firm that played a key role in arguing for school segregation in what became the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case.
In its arguments in the case, FCPS said the precedent set in an earlier case called Baynard would “require proof that [the principal] had actual knowledge, subjectively measured, that Jane was sexually harassed.” Baynard is a case in which a principal was repeatedly told that a teacher was a child molester, then a librarian told a principal she saw a child sitting on his lap, but the principal “naïvely believed [the teacher]’s assurance that he was only having an ‘innocent father-son chat.’” The principal was therefore not liable because she did not believe he was molesting a child even if she should have. Under that precedent, school officials’ “subjective” judgment, not what they are actually told, is key, Hunton argued.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-mcauliffe-linked-law-firm-fighting-virginia-student-who-said-she-was-gang-raped">McAuliffe-Linked Law Firm Fighting Virginia Student Who Said She Was Gang-Raped</a>
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-high-schools-steering-students-to-alleged-porn-producer-for-scholarship">High Schools Steer Students To Alleged Porn Producer For ‘Scholarship’</a>
The Daily Wire is building up its investigative reporting team to bring you more stories like this one and hold those in power to account.  Help us expose the stories the legacy media refuses to report on by becoming a Daily Wire member today: <a href="http://dailywire.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://dailywire.com/subscribe&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1635369891371000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGh8RAgXW5jScTI2qv6_Ew0oSikpg">dailywire.com/subscribe</a>.

Men’s Hands Will Hurt Women. Women Bow Their Heads And Cover Their Hands.

School Board Association Asks Supreme Court For What Judge Calls ‘One Free Rape’

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) continues to struggle following its controversial letter to the Biden administration urging the Department of Justice to target parents who speak out at school board meetings.
According to The Washington Post, the organization is “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/13/school-board-association-domestic-terrorism/">at risk of total collapse</a>” following the ongoing controversy.
“Nineteen mostly GOP-led states have withdrawn from the association or promised to when this year’s membership expires, and six members of what was a 19-person board have left. Several states are discussing forming an alternative association for school boards. A new executive director of the National School Boards Association (NSBA) is working to save the organization, lobbying individual states to reconsider, but so far he has not persuaded any of them to change their minds,” the outlet reported.
John Heim, the new executive director, told the Post that he hopes “they’ll give us a chance” and that his goal is to “rebuild trust” in the organization.
The news comes after it was reported that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona “solicited” the NSBA’s letter comparing parents protesting COVID-19 policies and the teaching of Critical Race Theory to domestic terrorism, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-education-secretary-solicited-nsba-letter-comparing-parents-to-domestic-terrorists-report">reported</a>. The letter suggested that “as these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
The DOJ used the letter to direct the FBI to assist local law enforcement and use federal laws like the Patriot Act to crack down on parent protests. Newly released emails show that Cardona reached out to the NSBA to write the letter.
“The email exchange indicates Cardona was more involved with the letter’s creation than previously known,” <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/education-secretary-cardona-solicited-nsba-letter-comparing-parents-domestic-terrorists-email">Fox News</a> reported. “In the Oct. 5 email, NSBA Secretary-Treasurer Kristi Swett recounted that NSBA interim CEO Chip Slaven ‘told the officers he was writing a letter to provide information to the White House, from a request by Secretary Cardona.’”
“Previous emails had revealed that the NSBA was in contact with the White House and Justice Department in the weeks before it publicly sent the letter,” Fox added.
The emails were obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request from Parents Defending Education.
The NSBA in October apologized for its letter, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nsba-apologizes-for-letter-describing-potential-domestic-terrorism-at-school-board-meetings">reported</a>, saying that the letter wasn’t approved by the board before it was sent.
“On behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter,” the organization wrote in a letter to NSBA members. “To be clear, the safety of school board members, other public school officials and educators, and students is our top priority, and there remains important work to be done on this issue. However, there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance. We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations.”
In December, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/school-board-association-that-wrote-letter-comparing-parents-to-domestic-terrorists-has-lost-1-million">reported</a> that the NSBA had lost more than $1 million after numerous state chapters ended their memberships and thus stopped paying dues.

US-EDUCATION-POLITICS-RACISM-FOCUS

National School Board Association ‘At Risk Of Total Collapse’ Following Letter Comparing Parents To ‘Domestic Terrorists’

Soon after the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sent a controversial letter to the Biden administration which asked for federal law enforcement to be leveraged against protesting parents — who were also compared to domestic terrorists — the National Education Association (NEA) sent a similar letter to social media companies.
In this letter, the NEA urged these companies to “prioritize the safety of people over profits” by stifling “propaganda” on the subject of Critical Race Theory (CRT) which supposedly stoked the “alarming” growth of “a small but violent group of radicalized” parents.
“Following recent revelations that the White House actually helped draft the NSBA letter and claims that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona solicited the letter (a claim a Department of Education spokesperson has denied), critics have suggested that the NEA letter represents yet more coordination between government and interest groups to silence parents,” <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nea-teachers-union-social-media-crack-down-violent-radicalized-parents-crt">Fox News</a> reported.
&#8220;This looks like a concerted effort between the federal government and outside groups like the NEA and NSBA to interfere with the First Amendment rights of parents,&#8221; Ian Prior, father and executive director at Fight for Schools, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. 
On the subject of the allegations that the Biden administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-education-secretary-solicited-nsba-letter-comparing-parents-to-domestic-terrorists-report">solicited</a> the first letter from the NSBA, Prior said that &#8220;it doesn&#8217;t stretch the imagination to believe that the federal government was also involved in the NEA letter.&#8221;
&#8220;Senate and House Republicans should do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of it,&#8221; Prior said.
The NSBA sent its letter on September 29, which claimed that school boards across the country were facing &#8220;physical threats&#8221; from those opposed to issues like CRT and COVID-19 policies. Following the Department of Justice’s release of a memorandum on October 4 that mirrored the language of the NSBA’s letter, the NEA <a href="https://www.nea.org/about-nea/leaders/president/from-our-president/neas-letter-social-media-companies">sent its letter</a> on Oct. 8.
Prior described the NEA letter as “ironic.”
&#8220;It&#8217;s ironic that the NEA would reference &#8216;radicalized parents&#8217; who falsely believe that critical race theory is anything but a graduate level course. It was the NEA that introduced measures this summer to support the implantation of critical race theory in K-12,&#8221; he said.
<a href="https://parentsknowbest.com/about-us/">Laura Zorc</a>, executive director of Building Education for Students Together (BEST), argued that the NEA should apologize.
&#8220;The NEA owes concerned parents an apology for accusing them of being violent, &#8216;radicalized,&#8217; and controlled by ‘conspiracy theories,’&#8221; Zorc told Fox News Digital. &#8220;Through BEST [an organization that helps train people to run for school boards and combat issues like COVID-19 closures and CRT]  I helped train more than 1,000 parent activists in 2021, and I can tell you that this is not what I saw.&#8221;
&#8220;Creating a scary strawman while failing to address the actual worries of parents is a typical tactic for these special interest groups,&#8221; Zorc added. &#8220;Social media platforms are key for parents who are trying to organize resistance to the NEA&#8217;s agenda — the NEA&#8217;s call for suppressing so-called misinformation sounds like another name for censorship.&#8221;
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at<a href="https://twitter.com/ighaworth"> @ighaworth</a>.

Coordinated Attack On Parents? NEA Called On Big Tech To Combat Anti-CRT ‘Propaganda’ Pushed By ‘Violent’ ‘Radicalized’ Parents

Big Tech

Critical Race Theory

Miguel Cardona

National Education Association

According to emails uncovered by Parents Defending Education, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona appeared to solicit the National School Boards Association (NSBA) letter which compared parents protesting issues like Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools to domestic terrorists.
In an October 5 email, NSBA Secretary-Treasurer Kristi Swett said that NSBA interim CEO Chip Slaven “told the officers he was writing a letter to provide information to the White House, from a request by Secretary Cardona.”
These <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-education-secretary-solicited-nsba-letter-comparing-parents-to-domestic-terrorists-report">emails</a> were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) <a href="https://defendinged.org/press-releases/new-foia-document-asserts-nsba-letter-was-drafted-at-request-of-education-secretary/">request</a> by Parents Defending Education (PDE).
“We heard from a few people that the state affiliates of NSBA were not notified of the letter sent to the White House — which is what sparked my <a href="https://defendinged.org/press-releases/state-school-board-associations-responses-to-the-nsba-letter/">questioning</a> of the state chapters,” PDE founder and president Nicole Neily told The Daily Wire. “Additionally, on October 6, Karlyn Borysenko <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/drkarlynb/status/1445612557218222080">said</a> she heard from a whistleblower that the board wasn&#8217;t read in on the letter either.”
“NSBA is a nonprofit, so their emails are not subject to public records requests; that being said, the <a href="https://nsba.org/-/media/NSBA/File/nsba-2122-board-dec-2021.pdf?la=en&amp;hash=11F23879C98F0878550FFB2A508AED4E7631B537">NSBA board members</a> themselves all serve in their local districts, so I sent requests to the home district of the (at the time) 23 officers, directors, and ex-officio voting members requesting correspondence related to a set of relevant search terms,” Neily explained.
Education Secretary Cardona was condemned by Republicans following PDE’s actions. 
“Secretary Cardona needs to explain himself to the American people. Parents aren’t the enemy, and it would be inexcusable if he solicited that kind of rhetoric from the National School Board Association,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said in a <a href="https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2022/1/sasse-secretary-cardona-must-answer-for-politicizing-parents-concerns">statement</a> Tuesday. “The baseless, dishonest allegations of terrorism in the NSBA letter are vile because they’re designed to silence important discussions about education.”
“The emails we&#8217;ve uncovered — as well as whistleblower information that America First Legal <a href="https://wordpress.aflegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Garland-Memo-DOJ-IG-Request-10072021.pdf">obtained</a> — strongly implies that increased parental engagement in education issues is unwelcome, at least at the federal level,” Neily said, when asked what Secretary Cardona’s apparent actions indicate about the Biden administration’s attitude towards protesting parents. “Parents have been growing increasingly vocal about their displeasure with the state of American education across the board — but it&#8217;s a real question whether the Administration is listening.”
“When the Department of Education floated a trial balloon about leveraging an existing civics grant program to insert materials like the 1619 Project and Ibram Kendi into schools, we <a href="https://defendinged.org/press-releases/the-biden-administrations-plan-to-push-critical-race-theory-in-public-schools-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/">created a comment portal</a> for people to weigh in through Regulations.gov — and nearly 12,000 people did so,” Neily added. “In the wake of Attorney General Garland&#8217;s October 4 memo, we created another portal where over 7,300 people sent letters directly to DOJ expressing their condemnation.”
A spokesperson for Education Department denied that Cardona solicited the NSBA letter in a statement to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/education-secretary-cardona-solicited-nsba-letter-comparing-parents-domestic-terrorists-email">Fox News</a>, saying, “While the Secretary did not solicit a letter from NSBA, to understand the views and concerns of stakeholders, the Department routinely engages with students, teachers, parents, district leaders and education associations.”
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at<a href="https://twitter.com/ighaworth"> @ighaworth</a>.

‘Increased Parental Engagement In Education Issues Is Unwelcome’: After Uncovering Damning Emails, ‘Parents Defending Education’ Founder Slams Biden Admin

Department of Education

Republicans blasted the Biden administration Tuesday following a revelation that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona may have solicited a National School Boards Association (NSBA) letter that compared the actions of some upset parents to domestic terrorists.
Parents Defending Education, a group dedicated to ridding schools of “harmful agendas” such as Critical Race Theory, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-education-secretary-solicited-nsba-letter-comparing-parents-to-domestic-terrorists-report">published</a> an email exchange Tuesday between NSBA board member Marnie Maldonado and NSBA Secretary-Treasurer Kristi Swett from October 5-6 of last year. In the exchange, Swett claims then-NSBA interim executive director Chip Slaven said “he was writing a letter to provide information to the White House, from a request by Secretary Cordona [sic].”
&#8220;Secretary Cardona needs to explain himself to the American people. Parents aren&#8217;t the enemy, and it would be inexcusable if he solicited that kind of rhetoric from the National School Board Association,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said in a <a href="https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2022/1/sasse-secretary-cardona-must-answer-for-politicizing-parents-concerns">statement</a> Tuesday. “The baseless, dishonest allegations of terrorism in the NSBA letter are vile because they&#8217;re designed to silence important discussions about education.”
“Cabinet officials shouldn&#8217;t be joining wild-eyed radicals&#8217; attempts to squash debate. Irresponsible accusations about &#8216;domestic terrorism&#8217; are political hackery, not public service. The Biden administration needs to take a big step back from fanaticism and end the needless politicization of every aspect of our lives,” Sasse continued.
A spokesperson for Education Department denied that Cardona solicited the NSBA letter in a statement to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/education-secretary-cardona-solicited-nsba-letter-comparing-parents-domestic-terrorists-email">Fox News</a>, saying, “While the Secretary did not solicit a letter from NSBA, to understand the views and concerns of stakeholders, the Department routinely engages with students, teachers, parents, district leaders and education associations.”
Republicans piled on Cardona following the release of the NSBA board members’ email exchange, arguing that the email exchange warrants further investigation into the origins of the NSBA letter which the Justice Department later used to justify a memo directing the FBI to crack down on school board meetings. School board meetings erupted last summer with parents upset over the inclusion of subjects such as Critical Race Theory and transgender ideology in their children’s school.
“Sec. Cardona must testify before Congress about the letter he solicited that labeled parents as ‘domestic terrorists.’ Dems use their majority to cover up for the Biden admin, but Republicans will use every tool at our disposal to hold them accountable.” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPLeader/status/1480968119204163588">said</a>.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) <a href="https://twitter.com/TomCottonAR/status/1480988221303672832">tweeted</a>: “Are you a parent frustrated by school closures and toxic critical race theory being pushed on your kids? The Biden administration thinks you&#8217;re a domestic terrorist.”
GOP whip Rep. Steve Scalise (LA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveScalise/status/1481007988794183680">added</a>: “Biden&#8217;s Education Secretary solicited the letter from the National School Boards Association comparing parents to terrorists that the DOJ then used to target parents. We need Congressional hearings NOW.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1480962070300577792">said</a>: “The truth emerges &#8211; the Biden Administration ASKED FOR the infamous letter calling parents domestic terrorists, and then used it to gin up their war on parents with the FBI. Shameful[.]”

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