Buckeye Reporter

The Ohio School Board Association (OSBA) has left the National School Boards Association (NSBA) following the group’s characterization of parents attending school board meetings as “domestic terrorists.”

The Ohio association is one of five states to leave the national body. The others are Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. 

“We were not informed of or asked for any input into the creation of the letter sent to the President," OSBA Executive Officer Richard Lewis said in a statement announcing the decision. 

"We believe in the value of parental and community discussion at school board meetings, and there is tremendous value in allowing and encouraging the public to have meaningful input into the decision-making process. However, that participation 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. But dealing with such interference should be dealt with at the local level, not by federal officials. 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. Because of that, OSBA no longer sees the value of continued NSBA membership." 

The NSBA entered unchartered territory when it asked President Joe Biden for assistance in dealing with irate parents expressing concern about controversial curriculum in schools, such as critical race theory, and COVID-related policies such as mask and vaccine mandates.

In response, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland enlisted no less than the Federal Bureau of Investigations to assist.

“The Department is steadfast in its commitment to protect all people in the United States from violence, threats of violence, and other forms of intimidation arid harassment,” Garland said in a memo.

Garland’s actions were widely criticized.  

The NASB itself later distanced itself from the initial memo noting, “there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter.”

Last week, it was revealed that Garland’s daughter, Rebecca Garland, is married to Alexander “Xan” Newman, co-founder of Panorama Education.

Panorama Education contracts with school boards across the country to offer “social-emotional learning.”

The company is unabashedly leftist even though its main stream of income appears to come from public school systems.

For example, the company offered up a book list via Twitter including a work by former leftwing terrorist Willam Ayers.

Raj Pillai, a parent and activist in Plainfield, Illinois, said he believes Panorama Education is benefiting from COVID relief funds that school boards must direct to the company. Pillai’s school board, Plainfield School District 202, like many others across the nation, has quietly paid $144,000 to Panorama in recent years.

Garland’s office was also in close contact with the NASB in the weeks leading up to its announcement leaving many to speculate the original letter was drafted with Garland’s assistance.