The Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) has terminated its membership with the National School Boards Association (NSBA) amid controversy over a letter sent to the Biden administration likening concerned parents at school board meetings to “domestic terrorists.”
WASB voted Tuesday not to renew its membership with NSBA, joining a number of states which have opted to do so since the letter came to light last year, Fox News reported.
“Actions by the NSBA’s leadership last fall needlessly harmed school board relationships and inflamed partisan tensions,” WASB said in a statement to its members. “Those actions caused more than half of the state school board organizations across the nation to distance themselves from the NSBA or drop membership entirely.”
The WASB noted that it is “encouraged by the NSBA’s new executive director Dr. John Heim,” according to Fox.
The Epoch Times has contacted the WASB for comment.
‘Angry Mobs’
It comes after the NSBA sent a letter (pdf) to resident Joe Biden on Sept. 29, 2021, asking for federal law enforcement and other assistance to “deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation,” and characterizing disruptions at school board meetings as “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crime.”
The letter was in response to parents at school board meetings raising issues regarding COVID-19 restrictions like mask mandates that were being imposed on their children, as well as the teaching of Marxist critical race theory.
The letter also referred to the groups of parents raising issues as “angry mobs” that had forced the meetings to “end abruptly.”
“Local school board members want to hear from their communities on important issues and that must be at the forefront of good school board governance and promotion of free speech. However, there also must be safeguards in place to protect public schools and dedicated education leaders as they do their jobs,” the letter noted.
Days after the letter was sent, on Oct. 4, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo directing federal law enforcement to meet to discuss an alleged “disturbing trend” in “violent threats against school officials and teachers.”
However, following backlash over its letter, the NSBA underwent an independent review to identify the events and procedures that led to its sending of the letter.
That review was completed in May and saw the board implement “a number of action items moving forward” based on its findings while noting that the letter had not been “widely reviewed or approved within the organization, and the finalized letter was not disclosed to the full NSBA Board of Directors or NSBA members until after it was submitted.”
The Board of Directors also apologized in October 2021 for the letter and announced new executive leadership for the organization in November 2021, with Heim replacing former Interim Executive Director and CEO, Chip Slaven.
“The letter directly contradicts our core commitments to parent engagement, local control, and nonpartisanship,” Heim said at the time. “The sentiments shared in the letter do not represent the views or position of the NSBA. The NSBA does not seek or advocate for federal law enforcement intervention at local school board meetings.”
Despite the apology and an independent review, a string of school boards have cut ties with the NSBA since 2021, including in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, and Minnesota.