$6.8K Spent On Police For Schools Following Chatham Moms' Fox News Segment

CHATHAM BOROUGH, NJ— The Chatham Board of Education was charged $6,800 by the Township and Borough Police Departments for heightened protection following two moms' Fox News appearance, TapInto first reported.

The funds came directly out of the school's operating budget, Board President Jill Critchley Weber said at the meeting, explaining, "We had no choice, the safety of the students will always come first."

Chatham Borough and Township Police increased their presence at the middle school and the board of education office in the days following the segment focused on the school. Township charged $2,500 for three days and the Borough charged $4,300 for five days.

Two Chatham mothers appeared on the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight in February to discuss the inclusion of Islam in the the middle school's world culture and geography course, as Patch previously reported. They said the religion was given disproportionate attention and school officials would not discuss the subject with them. The superintendent said in a statement all religions were discussed equally, and that after "hours meeting or corresponding with certain parents" it was "no longer productive."

According to TapInto, one of the mothers, Libby Hilsenrath, had no comment when asked about the funds.

"The additional police presence was due directly to the false statements made on national television, which then got middle America all riled up and sending threatening, violent, vulgar, either messages, packages, emails, voicemails, so we needed some additional police presence here at the central office and also at the middle school," Weber said.

Weber said the funds came directly out of the school's operating budget, telling attendees, "The $6,800 would have paid for the sailing club, $6,800 would have paid for the paddle team for an annual budget, $6,800 could have been used to pay for books, instead we paid for police presence to react to, again, false statements."

You can watch Weber's statements here:

Watch the Fox News segment here:

Image via YouTube Screenshot