U.S. Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado accused U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland of using "a lack of reasoned, sound judgment" in allowing federal agents to handle unruly protesters at local school board meetings across the country.
Buck, the Republican from Windsor and former Weld County district attorney, sent a 670-word missive to the nation's top law enforcement official Tuesday.
Garland sent a memorandum to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and federal prosecutors on Monday instructing them to hold strategy sessions in the next 30 days to come up with a plan to address what the attorney general deemed a "disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” against educators and school board members over politicized issues such as mask and vaccine mandates, as well as interpretations of critical race theory.
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Garland said rowdy, intimidating audiences represented a “rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel” in public schools across the country.
Buck's letter suggests the outrage is often warranted.
"Across the country, parents are exercising their First Amendment right to petition their government and voice their frustrations with their local elected leaders," the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Garland. "There are innumerable examples from the past 18 months of school board members imposing their personal beliefs at the expense of children and families."
Garland's Monday instructions followed a plea from the National School Boards Association to President Biden for federal assistance to investigate and stop the threats against educators. The NSBA likened the response to vaccines and face coverings to domestic terrorism.
"Local school board members want to hear from their communities on important issues and that must be at the forefront of good school board governance and promotion of free speech," the national organization stated in its letter to the president last Thursday. "However, there also must be safeguards in place to protect public schools and dedicated education leaders as they do their jobs."
The NSBA cited examples from across the country, though none from Colorado.
The state has not been immune, by a long shot.
Most Colorado students now attend schools with mask mandates
On Aug. 30, for example, tempers flared at a Cheyenne Mountain School District 12's Board of Education in Colorado Springs over objections to a mask mandate issued by the district Aug. 18. Protesters chanted "USA", "No more masks," "We are free" and "Hear our voice."
The board countered that it was following state health department guidelines.
As the school year started in August, the Eagle County Sheriff's Office issued a press release to say it was stepping up security at schools because of "tensions" over mask rules.
Buck on Tuesday took exception to the broad characterization of parents as dangerous scofflaws.
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"By drawing a moral equivalence between concerned parents and domestic terrorists, whose ranks include Timothy McVeigh and Ted Kaczynski, you are making a mockery of the Department of Justice and the FBI," Buck wrote.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department was not immediately available for comment.
Buck's full letter states:
Dear Attorney General Garland,
I write to express my grave concern regarding your recent decision to mobilize federal law enforcement resources to monitor local school board meetings. More engagement from parents who are concerned about what their children are being taught does not give rise to a federal crime. In fact, there appears to be no federal nexus sufficient to justify the directives outlined in your October 4th memorandum and your decision to direct federal law enforcement resources to confront parents who oppose the views of the Biden Administration and its socialist agenda. Your memorandum is a politically motivated abuse of power and displays a lack of reasoned, sound judgment.
School boards are responsible for the education and wellbeing of the next generation of leaders. Across the country, parents are exercising their First Amendment right to petition their government and voice their frustrations with their local elected leaders. There are innumerable examples from the past 18 months of school board members imposing their personal beliefs at the expense of children and families.
For example, school boards have failed to follow the science when it comes to COVID-19, leading to a wide-spread and tragic mental and physical health crisis among our youth. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that, from April to October 2020, hospitals across the U.S. saw a 24% increase in the proportion of mental health emergency visits for children ages 5 to 11, and a 31% increase for children ages 12 to 17.1 The University of California, Irvine found that the proportion of suspected child abuse cases that needed medical intervention rose from 10% to 17% during the pandemic.
And the CDC found a 3% increase in child obesity between August 2020 and August 2021, with the rate of obesity increasing most dramatically in kids ages 6 to 11.3
Additionally, many school board members have shown that they believe they are unaccountable to the electorate regarding their curriculum choices. Parents have a constitutionally protected right to assemble and to petition their government. That includes local school boards. There has been furious debate surrounding critical race theory and other highly controversial curriculum choices by these boards.
Parents deserve a say when it comes to the education of their children yet school boards around the country have been ignoring their input, leading to increased anger and frustration.
In their letter to President Biden dated September 29, the National School Board Association (NSBA) characterized this anger as “equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” and requested assistance from the FBI National Security Branch and Counterterrorism Division. To compare frustrated parents to domestic terrorists or perpetrators of hate crimes is beyond absurd and should be dismissed by
any rational adult. The NSBA was also unable to mention any specific credible threat or example that would support its outlandish statement. The isolated incidents of violence were handled by local authorities without the need of federal intervention. If the Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn’t have more pressing concerns than local debates over vaccine mandates and school curriculum, Congress should scrutinize its budget for waste.
You are the Nation’s top law enforcement office. Instead of using the incredible resources at your disposal to take on the violent crime surge that is plaguing our cities or to go after the drug cartels pushing poison into every community across our country, you are choosing to spend the law enforcement resources Congress has given you to go after parents who are nonviolently exercising their Constitutional rights. By drawing a moral equivalence between concerned parents and domestic terrorists, whose ranks include Timothy McVeigh and Ted Kaczynski, you are making a mockery of the Department of Justice and the FBI.
Therefore, I respectfully urge you to reverse course and allow state and local law enforcement to do their job. Using federal law enforcement resources to silence debate and intimidate parents who simply want the best for their children is unjust and an abuse of the powers you have been entrusted with.
Sincerely,
Ken Buck
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