OHIO – Attorney General Dave Yost has called out Attorney General Merrick Garland asking to rescind the Memorandum that calls “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff” at public schools from concerned citizens.
Yost says he’s joined by many of his colleagues from other States, objecting to that Memorandum.
“the only “spike” in action at schools has entailed concerned parents
exercising their First Amendment right to free speech and their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children. Thus, the Memorandum was understood as threatening consequences to parents engaged in lawful, protected speech.”
Since the letter, the National School Boards Association has publicly
apologized for the letter, calling it the result of a flawed process.
“The Association apology is further evidence that the facts are not what the Department initially understood them to be, and as public servants and parents ourselves, when our initial perceptions are proven wrong, we must adjust accordingly. Or, as one of your predecessors put it: “I see no
reason why I should be consciously wrong today because I was unconsciously wrong yesterday.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland has recently defended his letter saying that he is still concerned about threats of violence
