The Ohio School Boards Association sent a letter to the National School Boards Association on Oct. 25 letting the group know it is discontinuing its membership in the NSBA.
“OSBA’s decision to terminate membership and affiliation with the NSBA is a direct result of the letter sent by you to President Joe Biden late last month,” the Ohio School Boards Association’s letter says. “The letter purported to be sent on behalf of state associations and school board members across the nation. This assertion could not be further from the truth.”
The Ohio School Boards Association said it was not notified of the letter. It also wasn’t asked for its thoughts on the issue.
“If we had been consulted, we would have strongly disagreed with NSBA’s decision to request federal intervention as well as your claims of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” the OSBA letter said. “OSBA believes strongly in the value of parental and community discussion at school board meetings, and we reject the labeling of parents as domestic terrorists.
“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. That said, dealing with such interference should be dealt with at the local level, not by federal officials.
“The NSBA letter demonstrated just how out of touch the national association is with the concerns of local school boards and the principle of local control. OSBA can no longer allow NSBA to speak for our association or our membership and no longer see the value of continued membership.”
