The National School Board Association (NSBA) president who signed the controversial letter comparing parents to “domestic terrorists” has been selected by the Biden administration to serve on a government board that tracks student progress.
The Washington Free Beacon reports Education Secretary Miguel Cardona appointed NSBA president Viola Garcia to the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) on Oct. 13, two weeks after her shocking attempt to target parent protesters.
According to its website, the NAGB is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what our nation’s students know and can do in subjects such as mathematics, reading, science, and writing.
Emails reviewed by the Beacon show Garcia coordinated with the Biden White House and Department of Education several weeks before releasing her controversial letter, and that the White House was aware of the letter before it was released.
The emails also show Garcia sent the letter to Biden without approval or input from the NSBA board of directors, which upset several board members.
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As CBN News reported, Garcia signed the six-page Sept. 29th letter that asked President Biden to examine whether perceived threats to school-board members over mask mandates and issues like “critical race theory” required a federal investigation.
“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,” her letter reads.
On Oct. 4, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the FBI would start looking into what he called “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”
Conservative critics and parents immediately lashed out at Garland’s order, calling it an attempt by the Biden administration to prevent parents from being actively involved in their children’s education.
Last Thursday, Garland was grilled over the DOJ’s response to school board meetings by several members of the House Judiciary Committee.
“Is there a legal precedent for the Department of Justice to investigate peaceful protest or parental involvement at public school meetings?” asked Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT).
“We would never do that, we are only concerned about violence, threats of violence,” Garland said, even though his letter used much broader terms like alleged acts of “harassment” and “intimidation.”
Garland told Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that no one at the White House had talked to him about the NSBA letter. And he insisted during the hearing that the DOJ was not going to investigate parents who take issue with school board policies.
“The Justice Department supports and defends the First Amendment right of parents to complain as vociferously as they wish about the education of their children, about the curriculum taught in the schools,” he said. “That is not what the memorandum is about at all, nor does it use the words ‘domestic terrorism’ or ‘Patriot Act’.”
But those references to ‘domestic terrorism’ and the ‘Patriot Act’ were used by Viola Garcia whom the Biden administration promoted to a federal position.
As CBN News has reported, the National School Boards Association later apologized for Garcia’s letter on Oct. 22, writing: “As you all know, there has been extensive media and other attention recently around our letter to President Biden regarding threats and acts of violence against school board members.”
“We wanted to write to you directly to address this matter. On behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter,” the organization wrote, noting that “there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter.”
In a tweet on Monday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) wrote: “The entire basis for Biden’s DOJ to treat parents as ‘domestic terrorists’ has been dismantled after the NSBA said they ‘regret and apologize’ for the letter.”
“DOJ should retract the memo & the Biden Admin owes parents an apology and a commitment to end this baseless targeting,” he continued.
The entire basis for Biden’s DOJ to treat parents as “domestic terrorists” has been dismantled after the NSBA said they “regret and apologize” for the letter.
DOJ should retract the memo & the Biden Admin owes parents an apology and a commitment to end this baseless targeting.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) October 25, 2021
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