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Glad to see government involvement in recent school board situations

The National School Boards Association asked for help, and the government has answered the call.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday directed federal authorities to hold strategy sessions in the next 30 days with law enforcement to address the increasing threats targeting school board members, teachers and other employees in the nation’s public schools, as reported by The Associated Press.

In a memorandum, Garland said there has been “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation’s public schools.”

To address the rising problem, Garland said the FBI would work with U.S. attorneys and federal, state, local, territorial and tribal authorities in each district to develop strategies against the threats.

“While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views,” he said.

In making the announcement Garland said the Justice Department would use its authority and resources to discourage the threats and “prosecute them when appropriate. In the coming days, the Department will announce a series of measures designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel.”

We are glad to hear this news. As a newspaper, obviously we are all for using and expressing your First Amendment rights, but this misguided anger toward the school boards and staff needs to come to an end. These people sought to make education their purpose in life, but they only have so much patience at the end of the day. If this bitter dialogue continues, the final outcome will be that our schools lose great employees because they don’t want to put up with the vitriol any longer, and we can’t say we’d blame them.

To those with schoolchildren who are participating in this kind of behavior — perhaps you should probably be careful what you wish for.

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