Hawkeye Reporter

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo to the FBI and state attorneys general Oct. 4 regarding the "disturbing spike" in harassment and threats to school administrators, board members, faulty and staff, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The National School Boards Association recently wrote a letter to the President Joe Biden regarding threats and act of violence including "school board meetings (being) disrupted in California, Florida, Georgia and other states because of local directives for mask coverings to protect students and educators from COVID-19."

"I am directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with each United States Attorney, to convene meetings with federal, state, local, Tribal and territorial leaders in each federal judicial district within 30 days of the issuance of this memorandum," Garland wrote. "These meetings will facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff, and will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment and response."

Merrick added that "coordination and partnership with local law enforcement is critical to implementing these measures for the benefit of our nation's nearly 14,000 public school districts."

Reasons for backlash against educators include masking policies and the teaching of critical race theory in schools, according to Media Research Center.

Parents advocated parental choice when it comes to masking in schools in Davenport on Sept. 20 after board members voted that everyone inside school buildings to wear them, according to KWQC News.

"I think parents, if they want their children to wear a mask that’s fine, but also parents that don’t feel comfortable if their kid’s wearing a mask for eight hours a day, they should have that choice," Hallie Westercamp, a parent of three kids in the school district, said, according to KWQC News. "I don’t think the discussion has been fair in regards to this. I think parents should have the freedom of choice."

In Virginia, during a Sept. 28 debate hosted by NBC Washington at Northern Virginia Community College, gubernatorial candidates weighed in on what parents' roles are in relation to school curriculums, according to RealClear Politics.

While Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe believes that parents should not get to dictate the curriculum, Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin, posted on Twitter that he believes "parents should be in charge of their kids' education."

Senior Fellow Andrew C. McCarthy wrote in the National Review that the First Amendment protects free speech in all cases except when "it unambiguously calls for the use of force that the speaker clearly intends, under circumstances in which the likelihood of violence is real and imminent. Even actual 'threats of violence' are not actionable unless they meet this high threshold."