RALEIGH, N.C. — The federal government’s new investigation into threats being made against local school boards is splitting North Carolina’s elected officials along partisan lines.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced this month that he would have the FBI investigate the “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”
Democrats say the probe will help protect school board members who are worried about their safety during a time of heightened tension. But Republicans are charging that the investigation is meant to intimidate parents who are opposed to requiring face masks and the use of what they call Critical Race Theory in schools.
“We are concerned about the appearance of the Department of Justice policing the speech of citizens and concerned parents, North Carolina U.S. Senator Thom Tillis and the other Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter Thursday to Garland.
“We urge you to make very clear to the American public that the Department of Justice will not interfere with the rights of parents to come before school boards and speak with educators about their concerns, whether regarding coronavirus-related measures, the teaching of critical race theory in schools, sexually explicit books in schools, or any other topic.”
But U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, a Democrat from Wake County, said the investigation is needed. “Congresswoman Ross condemns all forms of violence and threats to anyone, especially public officials who are helping transition our students back to school during this uncertain time,” Maddie Carlos, a spokesperson for Ross, said in an email. “We are dealing with an unprecedented health crisis. To ensure the safety of everyone, Rep. Ross believes an investigation is necessary.”
Tensions have risen at school board meetings in North Carolina and nationally over the past year.
It’s not uncommon now for people to be scanned for weapons before attending school board meetings that are guarded by law enforcement officers.
On Sept. 29, the National School Boards Association sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking federal law enforcement to investigate threats against school boards. The letter cited multiple incidents of threats, harassment and violence that have targeted school board members, school administrators and teachers 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 NSBA wrote.
The chairman of the Stanly County school board in North Carolina announced he was resigning after he had received death threats, The Stanly News & Press reported. Stanly County, about 100 miles west of Raleigh, is among the communities that have seen heated meetings over requiring face masks.
Garland announced that the FBI would work with U.S. attorneys and federal, state, local, territorial and tribal authorities in each school district to develop strategies against the threats.
“The Department takes these incidents seriously and is committed to using its authority and resources to discourage these threats, identify them when they occur, and prosecute them when appropriate,” Garland wrote in a memorandum issued this week.
Reaction to the new federal investigation has been largely split along party lines.
“There is no place for bullying, violence, and aggression at school board meetings,” Rachel Stein, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Democrat Party, said in a statement Friday. “Republicans continue to sow division and fan the flames of non-existent controversies at the detriment of our school board members, students, teachers, and faculty.
“School board members have faced unprecedented obstacles since the start of this pandemic. The North Carolina Democratic Party is thankful to the U.S. Department of Justice for taking necessary steps to ensure the safety of those who serve their local communities and keeping our students safe and healthy.”
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, also praised the new federal investigation. “Keeping students, teachers, staff, and school board members safe so they can focus on education is absolutely critical,” Stein tweeted this week. “NC is seeing far too much violence in schools — we must do everything we can to protect our classrooms.
Stein added at North Carolina’s Council of State meeting that school board members “deserve praise, not grief.” Stein and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper also thanked Republican State Superintendent Catherine Truitt for issuing a statement last month criticizing the threats against school board members and saying that “these acts of aggression cannot be tolerated.”
But Truitt has drawn criticism from some Republicans for issuing the statement. A spokeswoman for Truitt’s office did not immediately return an email from The News & Observer asking if the superintendent supported the new federal investigation.
Multiple North Carolina Republican elected officials at the national and state level have criticized the investigation.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Western North Carolina Republican, called Garland’s memo “disgusting.”
“Harassment, violence, and threats of violence are never the answer, and anyone breaking the law should be investigated and prosecuted,” Foxx, Republican leader of the House Education Committee, said in a statement. “However, our children’s education is worth defending, and using federal law enforcement to stamp out legitimate and passionate differences of opinion is un-American.”
GOP U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop of Charlotte called the investigation “truly sickening” and a “brazen political use of FBI” in tweets this week.
“AG Garland is branding parents as “domestic terrorists” for speaking up about CRT & mask mandates in their children’s schools,” Bishop tweeted Thursday. “It’s just political retribution, & it should never happen in America.”
“The Gestapo has spoken,” Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson tweeted this week about the federal investigation.
State Senate GOP leader Phil Berger said parents were engaged in “peaceful protests” at school board meetings compared to the violence seen at some 2020 Black Lives Matters protests over the killing of Black people by white police officers.
“But the double standard here — defending rioters destroying entire city blocks as ‘mostly peaceful’ while branding moms upset about school curriculum as some sort of national threat — is astonishing and frightening,” Berger posted on Facebook this week.
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