South Cook News

Dean Barnett, president of Elementary School District 159, voiced his opinion during a board meeting regarding the Illinois Association of School Boards voting to leave the National School Boards Association (NSBA).

“So it was alarming to us that they had pulled out of the association without making any contact of membership to determine if that was wanted by the collective,” Barnett said in the meeting.

The IASB board of directors voted in November 2021 to leave their membership with NSBA.

After Thomas Bertrand, the executive director of the IASB, informed all of the school districts about the IASB’s decision to pull out of the NSBA, he also informed them that they would be aligning with a new national affiliate called Consortium of State School Board Associations (COSSBA), a voluntary and nonpartisan association dedicated to supporting state school board associations.

Illinois Policy reported the move to leave came after NSBA sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling for Biden to classify outraged parents over COVID-19 mask mandates and school curriculum as “domestic terrorism.”

Parents have been reportedly attacking school board members for those aforementioned issues, some writing death threats. Reuters reported Brenda Sheridan, a Virginia school board member, would receive such a threat.

“It is too bad that your mother is an ugly communist whore,” a letter said, which the family read just after Christmas. “If she doesn’t quit or resign before the end of the year, we will kill her, but first, we will kill you!”

Some school districts in Illinois became concerned about the withdrawal and new alignment of the state school board association and discovered a letter from an Illinois representative that had asked the IASB to withdraw from the NSBA. Dean Barnett became concerned that the matter was much more political than anything else.

Illinois schools aren’t the only ones leaving the national organization. The Texas Tribune reported the Texas School Board Association left the NSBA in May.

“The Board recognizes the need for a healthy national organization that can provide training, federal advocacy, shared resources, and networking opportunities,” IASB said to Illinois Policy. “IASB communicated to NSBA that ‘IASB no longer believes that NSBA can fill this important role.’ In September NSBA sent a letter to President Biden calling for federal assistance, without knowledge or support of its state association members.”

Multiple districts and boards grew concerned over these actions and got together, withholding their membership dues from the IASB to draw attention to their concern and get some answers. When members of the IASB did meet with directors from various district boards across the state, Director Thomas Bertrand said the reasons for leaving the NSBA were concerns about financial transparency and the condition of the NSBA.