Fellow American,
Maybe you heard the news – recently, the U.S. Department of Justice said they will mobilize the FBI against parents … for standing up for their own children!
On October 4, 2021, the DOJ announced a new initiative to address “harassment, intimidation and threats of violence” against school board members and employees – including but not limited to the creation of a federal task force as well as dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response by law enforcement under the auspices of the FBI.
My name is Nicole Neily, and I’m the President of Parents Defending Education. We’re a national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists promoting harmful agendas, and fighting against indoctrination in the classroom -- and for the restoration of a healthy, non-political education for our kids.
We are also standing with parents like you who are troubled by what’s happening in our schools today.
You might be wondering how something so outrageous -- the FBI being mobilized against parents for simply speaking up for their own children -- could happen in “the land of the free.”
It all started recently, when the National School Board Association (NSBA) sent a letter to President Biden asking for help silencing parents like you who are demanding change at school board meetings.
In their letter, NSBA cites a tiny number of minor incidents to insinuate that parents who are criticizing and protesting the decisions of school boards are or may be engaging in “domestic terrorism and hate crimes." While PDE naturally does not support anyone who uses violence or threats against school board members, officials, or teachers, the NSBA choosing to invoke the PATRIOT Act (which was passed after 9/11 to uncover potential terrorist plots) takes it WAY too far.
The association of legitimate protest with terrorism and violence reveals both NSBA’s contempt for parents and their unwillingness to understand and hear the sincere cries of parents on behalf of their children.
In short, NSBA’s letter to President Biden was a thinly veiled threat, intended to intimidate into silence and submission the very constituents -- parents and taxpayers like you, -- that its members ostensibly represent. And the Department of Justice is wholly complicit in this charade.
I’m in awe that NSBA would choose to threaten parents for having the courage to hold them accountable -- as I’m sure you are. And it’s unthinkable that concerned parents should be equated with domestic terrorists.
We will not be bullied. We refuse to have our free speech chilled by threats. America’s parents have a constitutional right to petition our elected officials -- and Parents Defending Education will continue to do so, with the support of parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens like you!
The good news is that this proves the NSBA, the teachers’ unions, and radical school boards around the country are running scared. They’ve been bullying us for decades -- and now that parents are standing up to them, they’re terrified.
The mere fact that they’ve summoned the Biden administration to back up their crazy power trip clearly shows they feel the power slipping from their hands.
In cities and towns across America, we’re seeing a backlash against the school administrators and bureaucrats who disdain the parents whose children they are entrusted with educating.
This behavior is arrogant and out of touch and these fiefdoms must be exposed and held accountable.
And that’s exactly what Parents Defending Education is doing -- keeping the pressure on the NSBA, teachers’ unions, and school boards. But we need the support of parents, teachers, and concerned Americans like you to effectively fight back against these bullies and defend the rights of American parents and school children.
So thank you for standing with us -- and standing up for America’s parents!
Nicole Neily
President
Parents Defending Education
4532 Lee Hwy #119
Arlington VA 22207