Both the Ohio and Missouri state school board associations announced that they are withdrawing from the National School Boards Association, after the organization sent a letter to the Biden Administration that labeled parents “domestic terrorists.”
Both states cited the letter from the NSBA directly as the reason for their withdrawal.
Attorney General Merrick Garland had previously established a task force betwen the FBI and DOJ in order to investigate these alleged “terrorist threats” from concerned parents who have been protesting at school board meetings across the country.
The NSBA did apologize for the letter last week, after disastrous testimony from AG Garland before Congress.
The desperate attempt by the NSBA to save face by apologizing doesn’t appear to be working, as Ohio and Missouri have joined both Louisiana and Pennsylvania in withdrawing from the organization.
Alabama, Florida, and Kentucky are also said to be reassessing their own memberships with the NSBA.
WCPO 9 has more on Ohio's decision to leave the NSBA:
The Ohio School Board Association announced on Tuesday it was ending its affiliation with the National School Board Association after the national group sent a controversial letter to President Joe Biden and the Department of Justice in late September.
The NSBA compared chaos, threats and violence at school board meetings to "domestic terrorism" twice in the letter and asked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into threats against school board members. The NSBA issued an apology for the letter to its members in a message sent on Friday, Oct. 22.
"On behalf of the NSBA, we regret and apologize for this letter," the message to its affiliates said. "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 a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance."
Missouri wasn't far behind in following Ohio's decison to leave the NSBA.
Here's what the Missouri School Board Association had to say according to ABC 17:
Officials say the NSBA has demonstrated it does not currently align with MSBA’s guiding principles of local governance. The NSBA has come under fire for a letter to the White House encouraging federal officials to stop threats and acts of violence against school board members. The issue has become prominent among the debate about coronavirus protocols in schools.
Here are the full withdrawal letters from both state school board associations:
The NSBA's "apology" did not rebuild any bridges.
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