COLUMBUS – The Ohio School Boards Association has severed ties with the national organization over the larger group’s request for federal assistance to address the increasing threats targeting school board members over issues like mask mandates.
The Ohio association’s board of trustees voted on Tuesday to end its affiliation with the National School Boards Association after the national association wrote a letter to President Joe Biden on Sept. 30, asking for federal assistance to investigate and stop threats school board members, teachers and other employees in the nation’s public schools, OSBA CEO Rick Lewis said.
The national association claimed to have documented more than 20 instances of threats, harassment, disruption and acts of intimidation.
The leaders of the Ohio group says the national association’s letter was inappropriate.
“We believe the letter from NSBA leadership demonstrated how out of touch the national association is with the concerns of local school boards and the principle of local control,” Lewis said.
Participation in local school board meetings is welcome, but “should not come at the expense of interfering with the board’s ability to conduct its business or subjecting individual board members to threats of violence, abuse, or harassment,” Lewis said.
“But dealing with such interference should be dealt with at the local level, not by federal officials,” he said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the FBI and U.S. attorneys to meet with federal, state and local law enforcement to address the threats.