Initial draft of the infamous ‘domestic terrorist’ letter against parents included requests to deploy National Guard, military police

Deploying the National Guard and military police against parents?

That’s what an initial draft of the National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) letter to the White House suggested. The final version of the letter was widely criticized for likening parents at school board meetings to “domestic terrorists.”

The draft was revealed by an internal review into the incident by the NSBA, published in a report.

The initial draft of the letter, written by Deborah Rigsby, director of federal legislation for the NSBA, contained the following sentence:

 “[W]e ask that the Army National Guard and its Military Police be deployed to certain school districts and related events where students and school personnel have been subjected to acts and threats of violence.”

Rigsby asserted in a note attached to the draft that the language needed to stay in, suggesting that where there have been disruptions “perhaps” the National Guard is needed, especially where schools have canceled their contracts with local law enforcement. 

Rigsby also worried some governors may not intervene with state law enforcement, since they are already in the business of “jeopardizing” lives over issues such as masks.

NSBA’s then-interim CEO Chip Slaven, who was found by the review to be “principally” responsible for the letter, was opposed to some of the original language of the letter but made it clear he had no problem with the Patriot Act language.

The review also found that the letter was not reviewed or approved by the NSBA board of directors or executive committee and that only four members reviewed it before it went to the White House. 

An early draft also included language referring to “plotters who are targeting schools and educators,” and claimed that parents voicing concern over the inclusion of CRT tenets in school curricula were just pushing “propaganda.”

The report included content confirming the collaboration between the White House, the NSBA and the Department of Justice, along with their responses to the fallout from the letter. 

The review’s findings come just a couple of weeks after a whistleblower revealed the FBI had in fact investigated some parents using domestic terrorist protocols, following the NSBA letter and the DOJ response.