MI School board member 'has some issues to work through': James David Dickson
Michigan Capitol Confidential managing editor James David Dickson joins 'Fox & Friends Weekend' to react to the divisive tweets from Michigan school board member Kesha Hamilton and the outrage for parents.
A group of Texas state representatives signed a letter urging every school board to leave the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), alleging the group is promoting a "harmful woke ideology."
"Today, I and other #txlege colleagues asked every school board in Texas to leave TASB. By remaining in @tasbnews, they are forcing our constituent's tax dollars to be weaponized against them, their values, and their children by promoting harmful woke ideology," Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison tweeted on Monday.
The letter began by mentioning how state representatives were "shocked" at the amount of time the TASB took to leave the National School Boards Association (NSBA) after they had compared parents speaking up at school board meetings to domestic terrorists.
"We were shocked last year that it took the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) almost an entire year to leave the National School Boards Association (NSBA) after it sent an indefensible letter equating parental involvement at school board meetings to "heinous actions" which "could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism" and called on federal law enforcement to potentially target parents," the letter stated.
Following the release of an independent investigation report, the TASB decided to leave the national association in May 2022, seven-months, after the NSBA sent the letter to the Biden administration.
STATES' EXODUS FROM NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION CONTINUES AS NEBRASKA CUTS TIES
TASB released a 13-page document of updated legal guidance for public schools to surrounding transgender students, which included sports participation, student records, and bathroom policies. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The state lawmakers highlighted the TASB new transgender guidelines.
"This month TASB released new legal guidelines related to transgender policies in schools. This dangerous legal advisory appears to encourage school districts to refrain from reporting child abuse and to obscure information regarding children exhibiting gender dysphoria from their parents," they wrote. "In the guidance, TASB also may be encouraging schools to violate Texas’s recent law, the ‘Save Girls’ Sports Act,’ and allow biological males to participate in girls’ sports."
The Texas State Capitol is seen during a rally against anti-abortion and voter suppression laws on October 2, 2021 in Austin, Texas. The Women's March and other groups organized marches across the country to protest the new abortion law in Texas. (Photo by Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
TASB updated their 13-page document of legal guidance for public schools to surrounding transgender students, which included sports participation, student records, and bathroom policies. The document also suggested that a school proceed with caution when a parent isn't supportive of their child's gender identity but to look for a solution that would satisfy all parties.
"It may be possible to reach an agreement with the student and parent that satisfies everyone: for example, schools have instructed staff to call a transgender student by the student’s preferred name at school but to refer to the student by the name on the birth certificate in all communications with parents," the document stated.
TASB executive director Dan Troxell sent a message to school boards stating the letter from the Texas state representatives "grossly misrepresents" the content in the document.
"It’s important that you understand the facts, especially since this same group of lawmakers is unfortunately using both misinformation and disinformation to call on Texas school boards to leave TASB. First of all, TASB did not just release ‘legal guidance or guidelines’ related to transgender policies in schools as claimed. Rather, we updated a legal FAQ, which is not a binding directive for school districts and simply outlines Texas laws and national court decisions that might weigh into local district decisions on this issue," Troxell wrote. "This legal FAQ had been online since 2015 and was updated in early January to reflect a case out of the Eleventh Circuit in December."
NSBA COORDINATED WITH WHITE HOUSE, DOJ BEFORE SENDING NOTORIOUS ‘DOMESTIC TERRORISTS’ LETTER: EMAILS
The state lawmakers insisted that considering all the information they provided, local school boards must leave the TASB.
TASB is a state lobbying group for school boards that provides information and guidance to local school boards and help organize and lobby on their behalf at the state house. According to their website, all 1,024 Texas school boards are TASB members and have been for 30 continuous years.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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The letter from the Texas state representatives comes after more than half of the nation's state school board associations withdrew from the NSBA since the controversy over the letter they sent to the Justice Department.
The NSBA's infamous letter to the Justice Department in September 2021 asked for parents protesting at school board meetings to be federally looked into, saying school officials were facing threats and violence at meetings. The letter requested that actions should be examined under the Patriot Act as domestic terrorism. The NSBA later apologized for the letter's language.
The story was updated to include a response from TASB.
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