National School Board Association chief knew about DOJ memo in advance, email alleges

The head of the National School Boards Association (NSBA) had advance notice of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s controversial memo about protecting school boards, a top NSBA official confided in an email reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

Parents Defending Education (PDE) posted an internal email from NSBA board member Pam Doyle in which she tells another board member that Chip Slaven, then-interim executive director, had advance notice of the Oct. 4 directive.

“I understand Chip [Slaven] knew about the A.G. directives before they were published. So much for communicating with the BOD [Board of Directors],” NSBA southern regional director Pam Doyle wrote in an Oct. 5 email to Beverly Slough, who sits on the NSBA Board of Directors.

“The American people deserve the truth about this issue immediately. It is appalling that the Department of Justice and Education Department have continued to stonewall on this scandal, ignoring pleas not only from the very people they are supposed to represent but also from the elected officials to whom they report. It’s little wonder that trust in government is at a historic low point,” PDE President Nicole Neilly told Fox News Digital. 

Slaven was the NSBA’s CEO at the time. Doyle’s email came one day after Garland’s memo. The email fed concerns over possible coordination between the NSBA and the Biden administration on the Sept. 29 letter raising the specter of domestic terrorism at rowdy school board meetings, and the Justice Department’s response.

The memo directed the FBI to get involved, prompting Republicans to accuse Mr. Garland of weaponizing the DOJ against parents upset about issues such as critical race theory and mask mandates.

“The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is launching an independent comprehensive review of the circumstances around the September 2021 letter sent to the Biden administration. The sentiments shared in the letter do not represent the views or position of NSBA toward parents, and directly contradict our core commitment to parent engagement – we sent the wrong message, and we have apologized,” Dr. John Heim, the NSBA’s new executive director and CEO, told Fox News Digital on Monday. 

“The review will be conducted by Philip Kiko, an attorney and the former Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives under two different Speakers, and the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich. The review will seek to address as many questions as possible, and NSBA will share the findings with their members and the Hill as quickly as possible. We take this matter seriously and will continue to take appropriate action,” Heim added. 

A White House official previously told Fox News that the White House didn’t order Garland to write the memo, saying: “DOJ chose to take this approach on their own.”