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The critical race theory (CRT) fight in Virginia is getting personal as "woke" parents and teachers have started directly attacking critics of the controversial movement, including by threatening lawsuits.
Ian Prior, executive director of Fight for Schools PAC and a Loudon County parent, recently received a cease-and-desist order from a fellow parent trying to silence him for speaking out against CRT by threatening legal action.
The cease-and-desist letter, reviewed by Fox News, accuses Prior of "misrepresenting" in a Tweet the parent's comment on a post in a private Facebook group titled the "Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun County." The post in question was calling for volunteers to gather information about anti-CRT parents in the community.
On Twitter, Prior said that his name was being added to a "targeting campaign" that was "soliciting illegal activities" by members of the anti-racist parents group.
An attorney representing the Loudoun County parent wrote in the letter that the intent of the post was not to "harass or threaten" anyone. Instead, the goal was to compile information on anti-CRT parents so that members of the group would be prepared to "understand" their narrative and better defend LCPS's "equity programs" in the future.
Prior told Fox News that the letter sent to his home was a clear intent to silence him and included some serious misstatements of fact.
He said that the anti-racist parent group was clearly working to "infiltrate" and gain information about anti-CRT parents, and the parent who sent him the cease-and-desist letter gave the group his personal information including his first name, last name, area of residence and other details.
Similar cease-and-desist orders have also been sent to media outlets who are covering the CRT battle in LCPS, Fox News has learned.
In addition, Prior retorted that the parent falsely represented their role in the anti-racist parents Facebook group in an attempt to smear his name. He also points to the fact that Virginia police opened a criminal investigation into the activities of the Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun County Facebook group over possible attempts to intimidate or silence anti-CRT parents by gathering personal information.
An attorney representing the Loudoun County parent who sent the cease-and-desist letter to Prior did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.
LCPS has denied teaching CRT in the classroom. Superintendent Scott Ziegler previously said "LCPS has not adopted Critical Race Theory as a framework for staff to adhere to."
Ziegler has also commented, "In explaining LCPS' equity priorities, it might be helpful to state what they are not. They are not an effort to indoctrinate students and staff into a particular philosophy or theory. What they are is an effort to provide a welcoming, inclusive, affirming environment for all students."
Prior and other anti-CRT parents argue that the school's "equity priorities" promote the same concepts typically associated with CRT and other similar schools of thought.
Anti-critical race theory parents in Loudoun County are now spreading the word, telling Fox News that the "woke" educators and parents are "messing with the wrong parents" and they won’t back down or be intimidated by legal threats. Instead, they are working towards gaining enough signatures to trigger a recall school board election.
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The non-partisan and anti-CRT Fight for Schools PAC was founded in April with the intent of unseating multiple school board members in Loudoun County due to the ongoing CRT feud.
The PAC, which backs "common sense candidates" has gathered several thousand signatures supporting forcing a Loudoun school board recall election. Once enough signatures are collected, a recall election of the Loudoun school board will be triggered.
"For the sake of our children, Loudoun County parents cannot wait until 2023 to elect new leaders," Prior said when launching the PAC in April.
Many parents and teachers have not welcomed the growing momentum for a school board recall election from Prior and his supporters.
In March, the LCPS Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee sent around a letter saying they would "silence the opposition" by parents against CRT. In addition, text messages between Loudoun board members also have shown that they used the term "we’re at war" with the parents against CRT.
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In addition, it has been reported that the LCPS Office of Equity has recently encouraged students and parents to fill out a "Share, Speak Up, Speak Out" form to anonymously capture incidents of "bias," according to emails.
In response to a request for comment on Loudoun County parents threatening legal action against each other, LCPS said that "any legal action, such as the one you describe, would fall outside of the realm of Loudoun County Public Schools."
Fox News' Sam Dorman contributed to this report.
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