The woman who helped send a message to the White House insinuating parents who object to school board decisions are domestic terrorists has been appointed to a federal post by the Biden administration to oversee the nation’s education. Miguel Cardona, education secretary, named Viola Garcia to the National Assessment Government Board, also referred to as “the Nation’s Report Card.”
Established in 1988, the board oversees and sets policy for the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). According to the Department of Education’s press release:
“The 26-member Governing Board is responsible for deciding which subjects NAEP assesses, determining the assessments’ content, setting achievement levels that describe student performance, and pursuing new ways to make NAEP results useful and meaningful to the public.”
Viola Garcia
(Image credit: nagb.gov)
On Sept. 29, Garcia and Chip Slaven, CEO of the National School Boards Association (NSBA), sent a letter to the president asking for federal assistance because teachers and community members faced an “immediate threat” from parents. COVID vaccine mandates and a curriculum that includes critical race theory are to blame for the increased anxiety among parents, teachers, and school board members.
Parents have become increasingly vocal, wanting more say in what their children are taught. According to reports, there have been threats against teachers and faculty that inspired the letter to the White House. In the missive, the NSBA suggested that “[a]s these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” And then, less than a week later, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the FBI would be investigating the incidents.
Garland testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Oct. 21, facing questions from Republicans about his decision to involve the Department of Justice in such disputes. As Liberty Nation’s Graham J. Noble recounted, the AG appeared to backtrack on the move, telling the committee that the Justice Department defends the First Amendment rights of parents and that he “’can’t imagine’ a situation in which the actions of angry parents ‘would be labeled as domestic terrorism.’”
According to the Board of Education’s press release, Garcia has served on the Aldine Independent School District Board of Trustees in Texas since 1992. She became president of the National School Boards Association in 2021 and is an emeritus professor in the department of urban education at the University of Houston-Downtown, where she trains future teachers.
Now, the very woman who labeled parents domestic terrorists will be on the board that decides what students will learn as well as procedures and policies. In an email to the association’s board of directors on Oct. 2, Garcia admitted to talking to the Biden administration “for several weeks.” Despite a lack of evidence that serious violence has occurred between parents and school officials, she wrote, according to the Washington Free Beacon, “We felt compelled to say something when we started hearing about the threats, harassment, and acts of intimidation at school board meetings.”
Turning to the federal government to solve local issues is inviting more oversight from Big Brother. And the fact that President Joe Biden recommended Garcia for the seat suggests that more control is just what the White House wants.
~ Read more from Kelli Ballard.
