The Daily Signal - ‘Arrest Me!’: Mom Challenges Attorney General's Call for Probing Threats to School Boards

Episode Date: October 8, 2021

Rhode Island mom Nicole Solas says she is just one of many parents “with legitimate concerns about our kids’ education.” Solas drew national attention earlier this year when her local school board in South Kingstown, R.I., threatened to sue her over public record requests she made to learn what her local school district was teaching students. The school board ultimately opted against taking legal action against her.  But Solas made headlines again in August, when a teachers union, the National Education Association Rhode Island, filed a lawsuit against her over the records requests.  Solas made the requests to determine whether her child would be taught about gender identity and critical race theory ideology, two controversial issues that have led to an increase in parental attendance at school board meetings across the country this year.  Parents “simply want to know what their kids are learning, and they want to have a say if what their kids are learning is not appropriate,” she says.  Solas is actively speaking out against Attorney General Merrick Garland's order to the FBI and federal prosecutors to meet with federal, state, and local leaders to look into a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” allegedly being made against “school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”  Garland’s directive came less than a week after the National Association of School Boards asked President Joe Biden for assistance looking into whether threats against school board members and other school leaders could be classified as "domestic terrorism.” Solas joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to share her personal story of speaking out against her local school board, and to discuss Garland’s order.  We also cover these stories: Congress reaches an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Former President Donald Trump asks a federal judge to order Facebook to reinstate his account. Texas will appeal a federal judge's injunction against the state’s pro-life Heartbeat Act. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Doug Blair. And I'm Virginia Allen. Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered the FBI and federal prosecutors to meet with federal state and local leaders in each federal judicial district across the country to look into what Garland says is a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school board administrators, board members, teachers, and staff. The call for the investigation comes after the National Association of School Boards as President Joe Biden for assistance looking into whether these supposed threats against school board members and other school leaders

could be classified as domestic terrorism. Rhode Island Mom and education advocate Nicole Solas joins the show to share her own story of speaking out against her local school board and why she is troubled by the nature of Garland's requests. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. And now on to today's top news. Congress has reached an agreement to raise the debt ceiling and prevent America from defaulting on its loans. Republicans and Democrats have agreed to raise the debt ceiling by $480 billion. These additional funds will cover payments on America's debt through December.

December 3rd. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made the announcement Thursday per Forbes. Madam President, we have reached agreement on a, we have reached agreement to extend the debt ceiling through early December, and it's our hope that we can get this done as soon as today. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans stepped forward because Democrats had no plan to raise the debt ceiling per the Hill. The president, the Speaker, and the Democratic leader had three months notice to do their jobs. But for two and a half months, the Democratic leaders did nothing and then complained that they were actually short on time. The majority didn't have a plan to prevent default, so we stepped forward.

Some Republicans, including South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, were not happy with McConnell's decision to raise the debt limit. Graham tweeted Thursday, if Democrats want an expedited process, to use reconciliation to raise the debt limit, they can have it. However, if Republicans intend to give Democrats a pass on using reconciliation to raise the debt limit now or in the future, that would be capitulation. Former President Donald Trump has requested a federal judge compel Facebook to reinstate his account via a preliminary injunction, pending a verdict in his ongoing lawsuit against the tech giant. Trump was banned. from a number of social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube,

after the January 6th Capitol Riot. However, in July, the former president filed a class action lawsuit against the platforms and their CEOs, alleging that they were unfairly censoring him and preventing him from effectively reaching potential voters, per the Washington Examiner. In a statement announcing the preliminary injunction, John Cole, the lead counsel representing Trump in the class action lawsuit, said, this preliminary injunction against Facebook seems appropriate to file this week, since they've been big in the news lately for all the issues they're facing.

Cole continued. Zuckerberg and Facebook say it's the 21st century public town square. If so, they should uphold the First Amendment. You can't have it both ways. They're like a public utility when it comes to speech. Back in June, Facebook said it planned to keep Trump's ban in place at a minimum until January of 2023. Texas is appealing a federal judge's suspension of the state's pro-life heartbeat bill. The bill prohibits abortion after a baby's heartbeat can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy.

The legislation is unique because it gives citizens the right to enforce the law by suing anyone who provides an abortion to a woman after the baby's heartbeat is detected. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Pittman announced he was suspending the bill and called the pro-life legislation an offensive deprivation of such an important right. But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Texas is appealing the judge's ruling. In a statement Thursday morning, Paxton said he disagrees with the judge's ruling and the case will now be appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Texas Attorney General added that the sanctity of human life is and always will be a top priority for me. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Rhode Island Mom and education advocate Nicole Solas,

as we discuss Garland's request for there to be an FBI investigation into parents' words and behavior towards school boards and teachers. The Heritage Foundation has a new website to combat critical race theory. CRT, as it's known, makes race the centerpiece of all aspects of American life. It categorizes individuals into groups of oppressors and victims. The idea is infiltrating everything from our politics and education to the workplace and even our military. Heritage has pulled together the resources that you need to identify CRT in your community and the ways to fight it. We also have a legislation tracker so you can see what's happening in your state. Visit heritage.org slash CRT to learn more.

I am so pleased to be joined by Rhode Island mom and education advocate Nicole Solace. Nicole, thank you so much for being here. Hi, Virginia. Great to talk to you. So, Nicole, there is a major battle going on right now over the future of education. And really, it's a battle for the future of our kids. We're seeing more and more schools embrace the teaching of critical race theory and gender ideology. This issue is personal to you, Nicole.

You've told your story here at the Daily Signal. We've reported on it. But for those who are not familiar with your story, could you take us back to early 2021 when you enrolled your kindergarten daughter in your local public school? Tell us what happened. Yes. So I called my principal and I asked her questions about kindergarten.

And then I also asked her a specific question about critical race theory and gender theory. I wanted to know if they were teaching it and how they were. The principal told me that they don't call the children boys and girls. They refrain from using gendered terminology, and they integrate the values of gender identity in the classrooms at all grades at an age-appropriate level. And with Critical Race Theory or Anti-Racism, which is really the same thing, it's a principal or tenant of critical race theory, she said that they teach children a certain line of thinking about history, also in every grade at an age appropriate level. And specifically in kindergarten, they asked the children what could have been done differently on the first Thanksgiving. And that is a ridiculous question to ask a five-year-old.

It's obviously a way to shame them for their American heritage. And when I asked more questions about this, she didn't want to answer them, and she told me to submit public records request. to have all of my questions answered, which were questions like, well, what do you ask them in first grade and second grade? And, you know, what else do you do with gender theory? How exactly do you integrate these values into the classroom? So when I submitted my public records request, my school then turned around and threatened to sue me for submitting what they thought were too many public records requests. And all this time, they were complying with my public records request. Sometimes they would say, oh, did you mean this instead of that?

But then one day they just surprised me and put my name on a public school board meeting agenda, and it said that they were going to discuss and take action against Nicole Solis for submitting 160 public records request. So I had never been to a school board meeting before. This was my first one. And it was where they gave me a show trial, and they talked about my moral character. They discussed the political motivations I must have for daring to ask questions about critical race theory and gender theory. They had people speak against me, call me racist. They had exhibits of evidence with all my public records request that I had submitted, as if posting them would somehow shame me.

But at the end of the meeting, they voted not to sue me. I had a tidal wave of supportive people come out that were demanding that public information to public information. They shamed the school committee for bullying me. And it was a real victory for open government, transparency and education, and stone school boards that they weren't going to bully parents. But then a couple months later, the teachers union then did sue me. And the N.A, the largest teachers union in America, sued me because they want to prevent the disclosure of public information from coming out of my public records request because they think that teachers will do. be harassed if we know about how they're teaching critical race theory in my school district. Of course, nobody wants anyone to be harassed, but this is a matter of public concern,

and they deserve to have public scrutiny if they're teaching this divisive and toxic ideology to kids in the public school. So that's sort of the rundown of everything that's happened to me in the past four months. Yeah, no, that's a lot in a handful of months that has unfolded. And you went from sort of at the beginning of the year in the spring to just, I'm enrolling my daughter in kindergarten. I want to find out what she's going to be learning to, oh, I have to submit public record requests to get that information. Wait a second. The school board is now threatening to sue me for those school board requests.

No, they're not suing me. But now the union, the teachers union, the National Education Association is suing you. I mean, what a roller coaster to go on. Nicole, what have you been feeling through this process? I mean, as you chose to stand and speak at that school board meeting and defend yourself, as you learned that the teachers union was suing you, what have been some of the emotions that you have been feeling? In the beginning, I was very nervous to go public because I had never had media attention. I had never really wanted it, but I felt like that it was never.

because my school was publicly attacking me. And I felt like I had to have a public response to show them that I wasn't just going to quietly let them walk all over me and really, really just try to destroy my life. That's really what their intent was. They wanted to publicly humiliate me. They paid a PR firm to call me a racist in the national media. So they really wanted to ostracize me from my community. And, you know, by virtue of that, ostracized my,

my kids and my husband. So I was scared of the media attention, but I wasn't scared to confront my school board because I had such contempt for them to what they were doing. And I really want to encourage other parents to transform any fear they have of retaliation into contempt for these public officials that you pay, they're your civil servants, and we shouldn't be scared of confronting them when we believe that they are really abusing our is with this devices and toxic ideologies. So in the beginning, I was scared, but now I'm just really angry and I want things to be fixed.

You know, I know it sounds well simplistic, but the reason why I'm still out here in the public eye is because I think it's really important to finish this fight and to get other people to tap into the fighter and then to their kids. I know you are still in the middle of that lawsuit with the teachers' union or waiting to see how that pans out. But Nicole, your story is really relevant right now. Last week, the National Association of School Boards asked President Joe Biden for assistance looking into whether threats against school board members and other school leaders could be classified as domestic terrorism. In response, on Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered the FBI and federal prosecutors to meet with federal state and local leaders in each federal judicial district across the country. And the purpose of those meetings is to look into what Garland says is a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence being made against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.

Nicole, are you a domestic terrorist? No, I am not a domestic terrorist. No other parents that is advocating for their kids in school board meetings for domestic terrorists. We are parents with legitimate concerns of our kids' education. Attorney General Carlin is trying to frame this in terms of threats of violence, but he is singling out and targeting parents because if he were really concerned about violence, Where was the FBI mobilization when buildings and businesses were burning to the ground during summer riots? Where's the mobilization of the FBI when there are outbursts in congressional hearings?

Those are public meetings where people are contentiously, you know, , contentiously, you know, yelling about things that they don't like, because that's really what's happening in school board meetings. Parents are angry and they're expressing that anger, which they are allowed to do. do, but this violence that Garland is lying about, I mean, let's just put it out there, he is a lying propaganda saying that all of this violence or threats to violence is happening because there's no evidence of that. And even if there were violence happening in school board meetings, which there isn't,

and no one can jones it and no one wants that to happen, that would be a matter for the local police. Garland is having multi-level law enforcement meeting as if parents truly are domestic terrorists like the National School Board Association said we were. And it's scary because you're starting to see how this fits into this broader political narrative where the federal government is really trying to purge ideological opponents. So we saw this happen in the military, and we see it happening in fanculture, and now it's happening to parents. In the beginning, we were called fascists,

and then they call you racist. Now they're calling you terrorists, and it sure looks like they're learning that these magic words that they call you don't have the impact that they thought it would have because we're still standing up and going to these school board meetings despite being disdained and accused of those things. So now they're threatening real action in Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Association of School Committees emailed, it sends a letter to the president and now wants to coordinate with the FBI against moms like me in Rhode Island.

So, you know, if something, this crazy time that we're living, and I can't even believe it's happening, you really learn who's willing to put their booths on your. you're not given the opportunity. And when this is all over, we all need to remember who those people were because we can't trust them anymore. It certainly is a crazy time in history. I mean, I was thinking, you know, I don't remember another time in history where we have seen so many parents going to school board meetings, voicing concerns. Why are so many parents standing up right now and expressing those concerns?

I think they finally saw what their kids were learning when COVID happened and see what's going on on the computer. And I think once you see the toxic lessons that they're teaching kids with social, emotional learning and critical rights theories, it's very hard to just pretend like you didn't just see or hear what you just hurt. And I think school boards are not used to having parents pull them accountable. And then likewise parents are not used to. having a public entity tell you that you don't have a right to know what your kids are learning

and they're just going to shut you out. That is like antedatical to being a parent, you know, for someone to look at you and be like, no, you don't have a right to be here, no, you don't have a right to ask, ask your questions. So I think we're clashing with these public, um, these politicians and these political interest parties and we're learning that we thought we were putting our kids in school and they were going to have an education and that this would all work out. And here we are just caring about what our kids are learning when really public school has a lot of special interests that care about their wealth and their power and their political agenda. And parents just spoke up to that

and they're not going to tolerate that. Do you think that it is those special interests that are really driving the situation? I mean, education shouldn't be a controversial thing. We can all agree, no matter your political leanings, that we want our kids to have the best education, to learn in an environment where they feel safe and cared for and where they're challenged. What is all of a sudden now driving all this controversy? I don't think until you start engaging public school, do you understand how so soundly political and convoluted it is? And I graduated from public school, and of course I was unaware of it as a kid. But once you start engaging it, it's kind of like mind-blowing how illogical it can be.

And, you know, this is education. It's supposed to be logical. It's just to make sense. I think there's a really long or big gravy thing here. So we have people that are making money off of public education. with outside consulting firms with diversity, equity, and inclusion. And it's very tricky because this whole machine, this whole political machine, that's very profitable in public education, will use words that we think we agree on the

meaning and we really don't. So diversity, equity, and inclusion, for example, doesn't mean what parents think it means when you just hear it, right? Like, you don't know that equity doesn't really mean equality. But someone who's not paying attention may think, how can you be against diversity, equity, and inclusion? You know, of course you want, like, a society that values pluralism and diversity, but that's not really what it's about.

So I think parents just haven't been paying attention for a long time and public schools are always trying to get money and funding, and then outside some consulting firms like GEI come in, and say, well, we have a way for you to get your funding if you just show, say, a certain data set that you have a certain level of diversity, equity, and inclusion. So I think it's way more convoluted than we ever thought it would be. Well, and now we certainly are seeing so many parents starting to, starting to investigate what's actually happening, looking into, wait a second, what is going on? Why is the FBI involved? What was your reaction and first thought

when you learned that Attorney General Merrick Garland was getting the FBI involved in looking into the alleged incidents of violence against teachers and other school staff? I mean, I posted a tweet that said arrest me. I mean, I dare you to do something about me going to my school committee meetings and asking questions of the, the people that I pay to educate my kid. I mean, I dare you. Arrest parents. I mean, fine, go. I mean, do we really want to destroy the country?

I mean, I think we kind of need to dare them a little bit to walk that walk because that is not the path we want to go down when we start threatening parents with a federal investigation just because these schools don't like what they're. asking them. I mean, we have legitimate concerns, and now the FBI wants to intimidate us and have a killing effect on parents who simply want to know what their kids are learning, and they want to have a say if what their kids are learning is not appropriate. So that's my response. I know other people are scared, but not to dismiss being scared. You know, this is the federal government and they have power over us and we need to take it seriously, but we need to not

stick our heads in the stands. If they're trying to fill our peace, then we need to talk louder and we need to talk more and we can't let them kill our feet. What is your encouragement to parents right now who are thinking, oh, I really need to speak out, I should get involved, but I am scared. The situation is escalating quickly and they might be really nervous to start weighing in. Well, I think parents need to be assured that you're going to have more support than you think because it's like a domino effect. When one parent speaks out, another parent feels like it's safe for them to speak out. And you just need one person to start that.

In my community, I don't think anyone was talking about this until I spoke out. And now my support system is larger than I ever thought it would be. I have more friends and allies than I ever imagine. So even though I was retaliated against and they called me racist and I had that five-hour meeting of them bullying me, I'm the one that came out on top. So even if you are retaliated against, you'll overcome it. And I can almost guarantee you won't regret it because you're going to be opening the door for other people to talk and know that there are other organizations like nonprofits, public interest law firms, and media outlets that want to support you. For example, legal insurrection is a fantastic outlet that you can contact. Bill Jacobson is in Rhode Island, and he wants to showcase your story if something happens

to you and you're being harassed or bullied. So you're not alone, even though you feel like you're alone, but you do have to take that risk and say something first and just know that it's going to be okay. Yeah. Bill Jacobson is an excellent resource over at Legal Insurrection. We've had him on this podcast a couple of times and really appreciate the work that he does. And Nicole, we appreciate you coming on, your time today. And you are willing to share your story.

Thank you so much. Thank you. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple. podcast and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks so much for listening and we'll be back with you all on Monday for a special Columbus Day episode. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than

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