Transparency News, 10/27/21

The National School Boards Association is walking back its letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal help for school board members who have been harassed and threatened over masking requirements and discussions of race in public schools. Republican members of Congress led by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley have raised strong objections to a Department of Justice investigation that was launched in response to the association’s letter. Also, some conservative groups and state school boards also sharply criticized the DOJ investigation and the national association. Earlier this month, the Virginia School Boards Association said it had not been consulted about the national association’s letter. In a memorandum dated Friday and provided to States Newsroom, NSBA’s Board of Directors wrote to its members that “we regret and apologize for the letter.” NSBA did not answer questions about the specific language the organization regretted.
Virginia Mercury

One of the last school board meetings of an eventful calendar year in Loudoun County, Va., saw dozens of parents, residents and students turn out for dueling parking lot protests — while inside, more than 100 people gave impassioned and angry speeches, with many calling for the resignation of the board and Superintendent Scott A. Ziegler. Inside the building, speakers filed into the meeting room one by one to address masked board members seated behind a wooden desk on a raised dais. Board rules, adopted after an especially chaotic June meeting ended in an arrest, do not permit an audience during public comments. The guidelines also mandate that only one speaker at time can enter the room to address the board, and that only 10 speakers total can set foot in the building simultaneously, after undergoing a search by security personnel stationed outside the door.
The Washington Post

The Virginia State Police is investigating threats made against Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj, one of the many public officials being criticized for the handling of the alleged sexual assaults against Loudoun students. News that a student, who on Monday was convicted of assaulting a female student in a Stone Bridge High School bathroom on May 28, was charged with assaulting another student at Broad Run High School on Oct. 7 shocked the community and called into question decision making by Superintendent Scott Ziegler. On a school division Facebook post, users posted threatening messages. “A public hanging is in order. No charge to attend. Should only take a few seconds and won’t cost much,” Facebook user Jim Culleton commented. An anonymous message to the full board, referring to Ziegler, said, “We The People are going to drag him—and every last [expletive] one of you pieces of [expletive] out into the middle of the street and teach you a [expletive] lesson that you will never [expletive] forget.”
Loudoun Now

 

The Center for Public Integrity has joined Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and three other nonprofit news organizations in submitting a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a press freedom case.  In the case of CoreCivic Inc., v. Candide Group LLC, the brief argues for affirming a lower court decision that provisions of California’s anti-SLAPP law apply to a defamation action in federal court.
The Center for Public Integrity

 

Every fall, Banned Books Week celebrates books that have historically faced challenges and bans in schools, prisons and other social institutions. This necessary celebration allows us to reflect on the works that critics attempt to silence. The most common claims for why a book should be banned include the presence of sex, drugs, violence, confrontation with racial issues, religious violations and blasphemy. Some of these challenged and banned books include Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas. These incredible authors depict violence against marginalized communities — primarily women and Black Americans — to produce creative literary works critiquing patriarchy and racism. They challenge the prejudices that still run rampant in our society. As a result, they often face challenges themselves. Simply put, these books should not be banned anywhere. Book banning is a form of censorship used purely to preserve certain notions of what people — most often, children and imprisoned people — should think. It upholds a false need for purity at the expense of challenges to racism, sexism, xenophobia and other prejudices. Moreover, it’s completely ignorant to assume that students in high school haven’t already encountered the themes evident in many banned books.
Bryce Wyles, The Cavalier Daily

Missouri State Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven inadvertently identified the precise problem when responding to a journalist’s question about why she pinned the blame on a Post-Dispatch reporter for a serious security issue on a Missouri education agency website, even though the reporter merely discovered the flaw and alerted her agency to its existence. “I would ask you to do your research on — on where and who is responsible for those data security issues before you make that accusation,” Vandeven said. It was an odd response, because the question contained no accusation. It was just a question. The only accusation out there is one first leveled by Vandeven and later amplified by Gov. Mike Parson after the Post-Dispatch’s Josh Renaud stumbled across teachers’ Social Security numbers embedded in a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website. One thing neither Parson nor Vandeven has done so far is own up to the fact that someone in authority attached teachers’ Social Security numbers to a state website.The person who alerted them to the problem is now irrationally the target of their ire, threats and accusations.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch