PA School Board Association Quits Over 'Domestic Terror' Charge

PENNSYLVANIA — The Pennsylvania School Board Association (PBSA) has unanimously agreed to leave the National School Board Association (NBSA) after they said that group compared parents to "domestic terrorists" in a recent letter to President Joe Biden.

The issue stems from the ongoing controversy between school boards and parents in communities across Pennsylvania and around the nation over mask mandates and COVID-19 mitigation measures in schools.

Subscribe to Patch for local news updates to your inbox. (It's free) https://patch.com/subscribe

"The most recent national controversy surrounding a letter to President Biden suggesting that some parents should be considered domestic terrorists was the final straw," the PBSA wrote in an announcement canceling their membership with the NBSA. "This misguided approach has made our work and that of many school boards more difficult."

The NBSA's letter requested federal law enforcement assistance in handling "the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation."

"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 letter, signed by NBSA President Viola M. Garcia and CEO Chip Slaven, reads.

That letter highlighted a number of incidents of violence, including a Michigan meeting where an anti-mask protestor yelled a Nazi salute, and other school board meetings on masking which resulted in arrests for assault.

The PBSA did not directly address the allegations of threats and intimidation, but called the letter and its language "politics and posturing" and argued it was distracting school boards from doing their jobs.

"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."

Tensions have risen to the breaking point at meetings around Pennsylvania in recent months as school boards grappled with communities and political leaders who were sharply split on COVID-19 responses. In places like North Penn and Council Rock, meetings escalated to shouting and verged on violence. It was part of the reason Gov. Tom Wolf cited when he reversed course and issued a statewide mask mandate: "I have become increasingly concerned about misinformation being spread to try to discredit a school district's clear ability to implement masking to protect their students and staff," he wrote at the time. "And the premise of local control being usurped by the threat – implicit or explicit – of political consequences for making sound public health and education decisions."

The PBSA added that the decision was not solely made because of the letter, but was rather an attenuated frustration that has built up over several years and involved multiple issues.

The NBSA sparked controversy elsewhere, as well, with officials in other states like Montana also calling for withdrawal from the group. Pennsylvania's association is the only group that has formally canceled their membership in the wake of the letter, however.