New emails show that days after the National School Board Association (NSBA) sent a letter to the White House comparing parents actions’ to “domestic terrorism,” state school board members were speculating that the NSBA sent the letter with a political motive.
Emails obtained by Parents Defending Education show that state school board association members in traditionally red states, including Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, were concerned about the NSBA’s potential political motives in publishing a Sept. 29 letter requesting federal intervention in dealing with unruly parents.
An Alabama NSBA liaison said that she spoke with an executive who believes NSBA CEO Chip Slaven sent the letter with the intent of landing a job in the Biden administration.
“I had one exec to say they thought it was a coup between Chip and the white house [sic] in positioning Chip for a place in the Biden square,” Doyle said. “Not surprised at anything coming from that man or the officers.” (RELATED: White House Knew About School Board Org Letter Calling Parents’ Actions ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Two Weeks Before It Was Sent)
Sally Smith, the executive director of the Alabama Association of School Boards, called the letter “so incompetent” and said that it “did far more harm than good,” in emails dated Oct. 5. She proceeded to call the letter “political theater” and accused the NSBA of shilling for the Biden administration.
“Even without the foreseeable negative publicity the letter generated, it was a bad idea; contrary to NSBA positions supporting local control; full of unsubstantiated hyperbole in referencing hate crimes and domestic terrorism; politically reckless in linking CRT and masking; and ineptly executed with no apparent strategic plan for rollout and media follow up,” Smith said. “Clearly, this was orchestrated and the letter contrived for political theater.”
Screenshot/Parents Defending Education
A Florida-based school board member accused the NSBA of prioritizing media over the safety of school board members, according to emails dated Oct. 2. Andrea Messina, the executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, said that if the NSBA was “truly concerned about safety, it would not have been accompanied by a press release and media interviews.”
“They made it about NSBA, not safety,” Messina said.
Another Florida-based school board member said that she was fearful that the concerned parent group “Moms for Liberty” would “have a field day” with the NSBA letter’s rhetoric.