The Daily - The School Board Wars, Part 1

Episode Date: November 16, 2021

This episode contains strong language.A new battleground has emerged in American politics: school boards. In these meetings, parents increasingly engage in heated — sometimes violent — fights over hot-button issues such as mask mandates and critical race theory.Suddenly, the question of who sits on a school board has become a question about which version of America will prevail.We visit the school board meeting in Central Bucks, Pa., an important county in national politics, where the meetings have been particularly wild.Guest: Campbell Robertson, a national correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Since the spring, a steady tide of school board members across the country have nervously come forward with accounts of threats they have received from enraged local parents.Republicans are heading into the 2022 midterm elections with what they believe will be a highly effective political strategy capitalizing on the frustrations of suburban parents still reeling from the devastating fallout of pandemic-era schooling.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Seemingly overnight, a new battleground has emerged in American politics. They have been getting national attention. A record amount of money has been spent on school board races this year. School boards. School boards. School boards.

School boards. Police were called to a school board meeting. Put your masks on. School boards. School boards. School boards. Police were called to a school board meeting. Over the past year, school board meetings have become the site of heated, at times violent fights between parents. Parents were caught on tape saying, quote, we know who you are. And others saying, quote, we will find you. We will find you and we know who you are. You will never be allowed in public again. No more left.

All over the country's most polarizing issues. The truth is that CRT is utterly disgusting and racist. This isn't critical race theory. This is diversity inclusion. As money and attention have flowed into local board races. And this is something we're seeing across Northeast Ohio and across the state. Central Iowa school board elections were more expensive, divisive, and controversial than ever before. The battle has been taken up on the national stage.

In Northern Virginia, the deciding issue for a quarter of voters is education. Suddenly, the question of who sits on a school board has become a question about which version of America will prevail. Today, ahead of this month's school board elections, my colleague Campbell Robertson traveled to one school district in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In part one, how did it get like this? It's Tuesday, November 16th. Campbell, there are a lot of wild stories coming out of school board meetings

all across the country right now. So why did you go to Bucks County, Pennsylvania? Well, for one thing, I'd heard that the central Bucks school board meetings were particularly wild. I mean, people shouting, people getting harassed outside of the meetings. So there was that. But it's also that Bucks is a really important county in national politics. You know, Pennsylvania is already a swing state. And in Bucks is a really important county in national politics. You know, Pennsylvania is already a swing state. And in Bucks, the voters are pretty much the prize voters being fought over by both parties. It's a suburban county, suburbs of Philly, middle and upper middle class voters,

predominantly white, but diversifying, pretty well educated. But they're up for grabs. And this year, the issues that have become so politicized, curriculum, COVID policies, are school issues. And these types of voters are invested in schools more than almost anything else. So any small change in Bucks with that particular demographic could have national implications. with that particular demographic could have national implications. Okay, so Campbell, when you got to Bucks County, what's the story you found about how the situation with the school boards there got to be the way that it is? Well, when I started reporting it,

I didn't think that would be so hard to answer or that it would be so complicated. And honestly, unless you went back and listened to every minute of every school board meeting for the last year and a half and went through every comment on all these private Facebook groups, I don't think you can totally fully answer that question.

Well, that's why we have you. Yeah. But I've spent a lot of time talking to people in the Central Bucks School District on all sides of the story. And I think I understand enough to tell you that it's a complete mess. Even when I was reporting this story, you find people in the middle of this and they can't remember exactly how it started to go off the rails. I mean, they think they know, but they think't remember exactly how it started to go off the rails. I mean, they think they know, but they think back like, oh, wait a minute, it was

here. No, it was actually before that. But, you know, whether it's the local school board meeting or the whole state of American democracy, it did evolve to this point, and it's worth figuring out how it got here. So where exactly should we begin in Bucks? If everybody's ready, we'll go ahead and get started. Let's start in the summer of 2020. I'd like to call to order the Central Bucks School District School Board meeting of June 23rd, 2020. Would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag. At this point, the school board is focused, like pretty much the whole country, on figuring out how they're going to come back to school in the fall. Remember, there was pretty much universal shutdowns in those first few months leading up to that summer.

But now the question is, will schools reopen in the fall? Right. Next, we are into public comment. We have quite a few. And this is when we start to see a lot of concerned parents showing up. Our first commenter this evening is Catherine Abbott Cutler of New Britain. You know, school board meetings are usually kind of low turnout affairs. Well, suddenly the board meetings in Central Bucks, which at this point are happening over Zoom,

are getting like 60 or 70 comments from parents at every meeting. And almost all of them are about this looming decision about whether schools will reopen in person. Understandably. Totally understandably. Right. Sandra Hill of New Britain. I am commenting today in hopes that the board will understand that I am one of many families that wish to return to school, but with safety provisions in place. And some of the parents are urging the schools to be cautious. The current situation stinks, absolutely.

But this is our world right now, and it is our duty to teach children that we have to adapt to changing environments. But that's not the majority of parents. Pam and Frank Maciotro of Warrington, we would like school reopened on time with as few safety measures as possible. The majority of parents are saying, we want you to open schools fully and in person. And in fact, there was a survey done around this time, and 85% of parents told the district that's what they wanted for their kids. So overwhelming. Overwhelming. Cassandra Brown, Plumstead. Please return our schools back to normal. Do not make our children suffer because some are afraid. Be strong, be brave, and don't be a sheep. So around the same time, some of the parents who

are most staunchly in favor of reopening are coming together in private Facebook groups, a lot in this one group called Reopen Bucks, where they're having all these conversations among themselves. And they start to grow increasingly frustrated with the district because despite the survey results, sort of this overwhelming support for reopening, the district just starts sending out these confusing mixed messages about their plans. Okay, so in the plan, we address two different phases, green and yellow. Okay, it's all in person. Okay, now it's hybrid. And that is because we're looking to increase social distancing in that yellow phase. We address two different phases, green and yellow. Okay, it's all in person. Okay, now it's hybrid. And that is because we're looking to increase social distancing in that yellow phase.

And so we cannot make a traditional model happen. Okay, now it's all virtual in some grades. Which would only be for elementary. And that gets these parents wondering, how exactly are these decisions being made? Hmm, but what's their theory? What's their anxiety? Well, for example, they're asking, you know, is the district bowing to pressure from the teachers unions? The superintendent, along with the teachers union, continues to put unwarranted personal fear above professional responsibility.

Like, is it the union that steps in and pushes these changes? If they are so scared, then they should resign their jobs and let someone step in who will put the children first. And so this group of parents, you know, they start to push harder, get more creative. They're all talking amongst themselves across districts. And they say, you know, we should file public records requests. Let's find out what emails are being sent, what people are talking on behind the scenes, figuring out who's acting in their interest and who's not. And, you know, who's acting in their interest and who's not.

And, you know, you discover that some emails, the district doesn't want to turn over, and that makes you more suspicious, right? So they kept asking for more and more. And things emerge, things that may seem kind of granular if you're outside the district, but become very important in this whole fight. Like what? The school seemed to be

going against the advice of the county health director who would recommend relatively unrestricted COVID plans, like three feet instead of six feet, I'm reopening. And then the school would announce one that was more restrictive. And after a summer in which the plans you know would change and the messaging seemed ambiguous the parents had gotten pretty angry people moved to central bucks for their schools this is what keeps our house values high i know if my kids are forced to be taught virtually wear masks sit in partitions made to social distance not to be able to play sports go to recess or eat in a lunchroom i will look for alternative education and, some of them filed a lawsuit against the district to try to force them to keep the schools open. Wow. And what ends up happening is that in September, the district

announces that starting within the next few weeks, it will offer in-person learning, at least part time, for everybody. And do we think that was in response to these parents, that this is a kind of victory? It's hard to say exactly what's correlation and causation with these decisions. But, you know, the parents put a lot of pressure on, and they got, I guess, a partial victory. A lot of districts, you know, didn't go in person like this. And so they definitely felt emboldened, and they felt like we can get things done if we put pressure on. Right. They have found some power that they didn't know they had. Yeah.

And Campbell, at this point, would you describe the situation, this dynamic between these parents and the school board as political? I mean, sort of. It's funny, right? Reopenings, you know, as an issue, technically are just apolitical, right? Parents of all political stripes were put in a really tough spot. People wanted schools to reopen. were put in a really tough spot. People wanted schools to reopen.

And I even think a lot of the people who were foreclosures last year are now looking back saying, is this the right decision? Should we have done it differently? Obviously, lots of arguments there. But the push for reopening always did have a bit of a partisan cast in terms of who ended up primarily mobilizing around it.

Part of this is obviously because President Trump was such a driver of skepticism about how serious COVID was going to be, how aggressive COVID policies. You know, he was talking about we got to reopen places. But, you know, among the parents who are pushing for reopenings, I also think there's this underlying idea that they're standing up against institutions, school boards, government, bureaucracy, health departments, unions. They're standing up against these institutions that they felt already had too much power over their lives, or certainly during the pandemic. So again, reopening schools in and of itself,

during the pandemic. So again, reopening schools in and of itself, not a political issue, right? But what you start to see as this movement starts forming around reopening is this general sort of conservative worldview starts to surface. So there are now thousands of people who are part of Reopen Bucks and these other Facebook groups that have started forming about reopening. and these other Facebook groups that have started forming about reopening. And particularly starting around November with the presidential election, you see some of the members are now using these spaces to discuss other issues that matter to them. On Reopen Bucks, they're post-supporting Trump, post-talking about this idea that the election was stolen. You know, somebody says, other states states responding Trump rallies, we should also. And it's interesting in response, you see this kind of sporadic effort by the group's moderators to keep everybody on topic. Sometimes they pop in to say, hey,

everybody, this is a single issue group. We're about reopening. And that's all we're about. But it sounds like for some of the members, it's becoming about more than that. Yeah. Okay. So what happens next? So now it's winter 2020, start of 2021. We're in the thick of the pandemic. The parents who've been really pushing against COVID restrictions in the schools are still coming to the school board meetings, making comments.

And this, I think, is around the time when things start to shift. Good evening, everyone, and Happy New Year. Thank you for having me. On January 6th, an elementary school teacher shows up at a committee meeting to give a presentation. Tonight, I'm just going to provide an overview of social-emotional learning. And then also, we're going to talk a little bit about the Second Step Update. And Second Step is the curriculum that we are implementing for the first time this school year at the elementary level. This is an educational program that they've been piloting in her school. It's designed to help students better understand one another

and appreciate other perspectives. So there was a picture for one lesson that I remember distinctly for fourth grade, and it was a picture of two children looking at a roller coaster and understanding and just showing that visual for those students that some might find this very scary, right, and some might find this very scary, right? And some might find this exciting. And so it really talks and gives them concrete examples of how to accept our differences.

And the reason she's there is because they're thinking about rolling this out to middle schoolers. And that's simply it. So tonight, I'm happy to field any questions you have. So at the end of her presentation, she asked the board for feedback. And one of the board members seems ready. I actually do have a little bit of feedback from a parent who had reached out to me regarding a concern. in November they did receive a link that was sent and it led to some content about anti-racism Breonna Taylor George Floyd which at the elementary level the parent was quite concerned that this might be some heavy content for elementary school children and asked what it is that we are doing with this. So as I've been able to piece it together, what happened is a newsletter went out from the school about this program. And it contained a link to the program's website so let me pull that up once you get to the website there's a drop down menu

with resources and there are about seven or eight resources there and one of them is anti-racism and anti-bias resources so you click on that and it takes you to another page with a lot of different links to different organizations different programs and at the bottom of that page there is a link that says supporting racial equity with culturally responsive pedagogy so if you on that, it takes you to another website and you scroll down that and there's a passage in the first sentence is the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, among many others, have dramatically underscored the racial injustices within our country's systems. And it seems a parent with concerns about that had reached out to a board member ahead of the meeting and found a receptive audience.

I do have to say that some of the things that I saw on the website recently dealing with systemic racism, implicit bias, and social justice caused some concern for me. I'm sorry, I'm trying to understand where this was in. At this point, it doesn't seem like a lot of people are organizing around this or even know about it. It's more like a couple of board members are basically like, yeah, you know, now that you mention it, I have concerns about that too. I too have a problem with jumping into all the new resources

that have been put on this website since we first approved the program. So to your understanding, just for the lessons itself, at no point are students going to that website. Those resources on that website are really for adults. But by the next meeting... The program's resources have changed, some of which include anti-police rhetoric. Parents are pouring in to talk about this. I sincerely implore you to revisit the content of this program, as I believe we prefer that our children not be programmed

into having a vision of authority of police that is cynical and distrustful. And now we have these two camps of parents at the meetings. We are not born with these biases. This means that anti-racism, diversity, inclusion, and equity can be taught as well. We are in a crisis. And while I understand that these issues need to be addressed carefully, especially with our youngest students, I wholeheartedly believe that they need to be addressed. We're here to ask that Central Bucks be a leader to parents and kids alike in a world that desperately needs diversity,

anti-racist, and bravery, and not pander to a handful of parents that will not address their own racism and their own bias. It's time for Central Bucks and its parents and its community to address the ugliness and lead with compassion and bravery. So what do we think happened in the time between these two meetings? What happened is that another group of already organized parents is drawn into the school board meetings. Obviously, Reopen Bucks and these other reopening groups

are not the only Facebook groups where people in the community are gathering to talk. There are all these progressive groups in Bucks, some of which go back for years, many of them organized in the wake of George Floyd. They were pushing the district on its diversity and equity plans, trying to draw attention to what they saw as racist curriculum within the schools, that sort of thing. Well, they hear about what happened at this second step meeting, and they're talking amongst themselves, and they agree to show up at that next board meeting to defend the program. And they have this big turnout, right?

And they have this big turnout, right? Well, now some of the more conservative parents, you know, some of whom have already been part of the reopening movement, some not, they notice that and they react. Hi, I'm Dennis Hart. I'm from Buckingham. My wife and I have a daughter in the school district. We are concerned as taxpayers that the district would continue to focus on threading the LGBTQ plus dogma into the curriculum at all our schools. And some of them start to file a new set of public records requests to see what they can uncover about how the schools have been communicating on those topics. It seems more like an indoctrination meant to expand the population of LGBTQ plus than actual learning. And on the other side, you had even more people come into the meetings to defend these topics and programs, some of which have actually been around for a long time.

I'm a cisgender white male and stepfather to two kids in the Central Bucks School District, and friend, ally, and advocate for trans, non-binary, and non-conforming gender students. So you've got these two camps, neither of which are new, suddenly fighting in this new space. Some of their fights are the same fights they've been fighting for years,

and some of them are old fights, just in new forms. What does critical race theory do? It subscribes to Marxist theory, which begins in a class struggle. It's identity policy. It's a social upheaval they're trying to create to pit one group against the other. We are all Americans. We are all entitled to the fruits of the freedom of the United States of America, which began

in 1776, not 1619. Okay. For months, this has been burning up conservative media, which has been talking about it relentlessly. Good evening and welcome to Tucker Carlson Tonight. Nothing changes the society long term more than the way we teach our children, what we teach them and how we teach them. And of course, the curricula in so many schools has taken a much harder edge from the extreme left wing to the outright totalitarian. This is happening all over the country. In school districts, your kids may attend and you may not know about it. And now, again, that's all coming home to central bucks.

My wife and I have two sons who attend school in this district. We are concerned as parents and as taxpayers that the school district would require our teachers to participate in the professional development sessions that force the critical race theory into the core curriculum that the complete nonsense that most of our student body is racist because they were born white is immoral, and just plain wrong. Will we have to teach us to greet our children every morning with, Good morning, you racist brats. So for those of us wondering, what did I miss? And how and why exactly did school boards suddenly become these battlegrounds,

what's happening didn't really start with these school board meetings. I mean, yes, it did in the sense that it was parents first showing up at these school board meetings to talk about reopenings, and that sort of laid the groundwork. But then you have these parents feeling newly empowered and mobilized to use the schools as a place to fight their fights. That prompts a counter-reaction from parents in these more liberal social media groups. And that eventually pulls them into these meetings as well.

And now you have this kind of self-reinforcing cycle where battles at the meetings are providing new material for these two sides to take back to their respective social media groups and stir things up. And so it goes back and forth and on and on. Yeah. The school board meetings are downstream of all this. They're the middle of the story, not the beginning. So when you see these meetings, that's why it feels like, what the hell? Where did this come from? Why is everybody so mad? Why are there all these people who are here for the same issue? Is it really just a link from a newsletter that one would think very few people looked at? Right. And the answer is no, not really.

Well, if you haven't been on these Facebook pages where everyone is getting together, chatting and commenting and all this stuff and building on each other, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Good evening. My name is Lisa Sissio. I live in Warrington. So now we're in the spring. There are a myriad of issues facing Central Bucks, but you have left us no choice but to keep coming back here to address the most pressing one. And people in Bucks tell me that this was a turning point. So parents now are starting to identify allies on the school board. And so this camp versus camp thing is starting to split the board itself.

And while this is going on, school board elections are coming up in the fall, and the candidates are starting to campaign. And it's clear what the central battle is going to be. COVID restrictions are being lifted by the state around this time. And local school policies are back up for debate again. Quarantines, distancing, how's it all going to work? And one issue has come to dominate above all.

We need to make masks optional now. Masks. Masks. Masks aren't required in the Air Condition Administration building. And whether there will be a mask mandate. I'm not up here fighting to ban masks. I'm up here fighting for my children and my family to simply have a choice not to wear one. And, you know, you might think that the mask fight is not so different from the reopening fight almost a year earlier. But it is.

Kids that are in kindergarten have now spent 20% of their life in a mask. In the months since, masks have become this huge cultural touchstone everywhere. And school board meetings have become the new cultural battleground. That is, it's crazy. It's abusive. You need to end this now. It is child abuse. And so parents are talking about mask policy in schools, but it really goes a lot farther than that. You know, a lot of folks are now staunchly against masks completely. They refuse to wear them at school board meetings. There's firm resistance to vaccines.

Some people questioning the scientific consensus. Some saying that they're actually satanic. People at meetings are talking about liberty and tyranny and communism. They're talking about good versus evil. The fight has become about principles. It's become about ideology. And there are increasingly even debates about the way public comments work in the meetings. In a lot of ways, the fight has become about the fight itself.

Central Brux has a QAnon conspiracy problem, and the amplification of those voices began in this room. This has never been about just masks or COVID. This has always been about extremism, QAnon conspiracy, and a masquerade in local politics. And over the summer, the meetings get longer, and they get louder, and they get bigger. And the insults get very nasty. Right now as we speak, there are demonic adults recruiting, brainwashing, and participating in uncomfortable behaviors with children. And every one of you know it. The treatment of our children during this pandemic has been eye-opening to the deception and lies perpetrated by the people in this room. along with your collusion with unions, community activists, private physicians,

organizations that push an agenda for political and financial gain. And you know, just as you said, there's this kind of reinforcing cycle going on. What's happening in the meetings is now spilling out, and what's happening on the outside is then spilling back in. And it just keeps going. I wanted to briefly share some of what has been said about me in the groups that oppose reopen bottles. I've been called the following repulsive, horrible, sick person, piece of garbage, idiot, crazy, lunatic, vile human being,

idiot, crazy, lunatic, vile human being, wacko, Karen, needs to straighten her hair better, clown, big mouth, disgusting, joke, DIAF, die in a fire. Masks should be worn by all individuals under the age of two indoors and especially... A couple of local physicians hold a news conference to push the school board toward a more rigorous health plan. Oh shit, it doesn't even match the science. Bullshit. Say that to my parents. I don't give a shit. A bunch of protesters show up to shout at them, calling them illegal aliens, things like that. Illegal aliens. Chances.

This is not fear-mongering. This is fear-mongering. And it devolves from there. Whoa, whoa. Get off her. Just hit me on the head. I saw it. Just hit me on the head.

Pro-masker hits an anti-masker in the head with a poster at that press conference. Stop hurting people. Stop hurting children. Wow. And back inside the board meetings, the emerging factions on the school board are only becoming more rigid. Remember, this all started as parents versus the school board. But as it becomes parents versus parents, the members of the school board are picking sides. So you go to meetings and you see half the board members wearing masks, half not. And it's pretty much like a declaration of which camp they're allied with. And so now it starts to become obvious what the end game is. Which is what?

Control of the school board itself. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. So, Campbell, tell us about this school board that's becoming increasingly divided and the election that's coming up in the fall. So it's a nine-person board, and it's about evenly split. They have this one member, John Gamble, who often functions as their swing vote. He's the only one who's kind of still playing the role of the middle at this point. Kind of the school board's John Roberts.

Yeah, like that. But five of the seats are up for reelection in the fall. So the whole balance could shift, right? And so with the tension at an all-time high, the board has to make its decision about whether it's going to require masks in schools. Good evening. I'd like to call to order the August 25th special meeting. On August 25th, with schools set to start the following week and no mask policy in place. Mrs. Radcliffe, will you please do a roll call vote? The board holds an emergency vote. Mrs. Smith. Yes. Mrs. Suits. Yes. The board holds an emergency vote.

And they vote down a universal mask mandate. And John Gamble is the swing vote. One week later, the board holds its regularly scheduled meeting. And hours before that meeting, Pennsylvania announces a statewide mask mandate in schools. Just this afternoon, the Secretary of Health mandated that masks are mandatory as of September 7th. So now the board has to decide how to proceed. Well, how many ways are there to potentially proceed? Isn't it a mandate? Yeah, but the board has some power over how they carry that mandate out. And as it turns out, the state's mandate leaves a fair bit of leeway for students

to get mask exemptions based on like medical or mental health conditions, because the state's mandate doesn't require a doctor's signature. And think about that. So the questionnaire that anyone who wants a waiver from the mask requirement has to fill out for their child says, I hereby seek an exception because wearing a face covering would cause or exacerbate A, medical condition, B, mental health condition, C, disability, etc., etc. So one of the central arguments of parents who oppose masks is that they are psychologically damaging to kids. So without requiring a doctor's note, just about any parent could make this case based on the fact that they are opposed to masks.

So what I learned is that some of the members who were on the board who were against a mask mandate and would have seen the state's order and been against that, read it and start to say to themselves, you know what, this is a version of a mandate we can actually get behind. This is ridiculous. All of it. But before they get to that vote... All of us, we the parents, will be standing here against all of you.

Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. This turns out to be one of the wildest, most raucous meetings of the whole year. Okay. All right. We're now at the part of the story that you've been seeing all over the news. Maybe you haven't seen central bucks in the news, obviously, but, like, you've seen the meetings like this. To a hundred.

A hundred cases a week. Also, one last point. It's not... Please, everybody. Everybody needs to be respectful. And just as it's about to wind up, John Gamble makes an announcement. I would like to be able to put my two cents in. Sure. Well, I waited.

Following his vote against the mask mandate the previous week. No one is listening with any intent to understand the other point of view. This culminated in a death threat. He got a death threat. Hi, concerned parent here. I'm just wondering, how many child deaths is enough before you change your policy? I mean, you and your board are putting our children at risk. Do you believe we're just going to sit here and allow that to happen?

You're literally causing children's deaths. You are a fucking piece of crap. You should fucking die. Go fuck yourself, you piece of shit fucker. To be clear, from all the people I've talked to in Bucks County, this is not the first death threat during this time. But it's a breaking point for Gamble. It's been a hellacious week since last Wednesday. He blames what's happening on the position he feels he's been put in as the swing vote

on the mask issue. A position he's about to be put in once again as he takes this vote. But if I'm doing my straw poll already, you guys are putting me as the fifth vote again, putting me in the meat grinder again. If I vote for masks, I send the message

that a board member's vote can be swayed by public bullying. If I vote for a mask optional, I will be facing a very real confirmed death threat from a member of the community. No matter how I vote, I will be facing a very real confirmed death threat from a member of the community. No matter how I vote, I will leave here tonight as public enemy number one for half the people in this room again. And I'm here because I care about the district and our children. But when I need a police escort to enter a building for a meeting, even I have a breaking point. You guys are digging for information on my wife. a building for a meeting. Even I have a breaking point.

You guys are digging for information on my wife. How dare you? She had to teach yesterday with somebody guarding her classroom because you threatened my family.

You disgust me. You don't deserve the service that has been put in. So tonight, I'm done with the hostility. I'm done with your bullying, the shameful behavior, the politics, and the threats. So effective tonight, I resign. He resigns. Wow. Yeah.

And in one of his last acts as a member of the board, he cast a deciding vote in favor of adopting the state's mask mandate. COVID has broken you people, and it's disgusting. I watch how you treat each other in here. It's disgusting. I watch how you treat each other in here. It's disgusting. Common decency. You all need to find it real fast. Campbell, I'm struck as we're talking that there is a pretty rich irony to all of this. Never before, I have to think, has there been so much attention on schools and what's going

on in school districts like Central Bucks. But the focus has become so political, even if it started with the practical question of whether the schools would reopen. And as it's become more and more political, it seems like the focus of all this energy and attention has drifted further and further from what's going on in the schools themselves, which is a lot, because we are in year two of this pandemic. Well, look, to be clear, everyone in this, the parents in the school board meetings, are constantly saying they're doing this for the well-being of the students. You know, the people arguing for masks are saying this is literally life or death. The people arguing against masks say it's doing permanent damage to the children. But as this has gone on, these disputes have gotten more and more and more about how awful and wrong the other side is

instead of what's actually happening inside the classrooms. John Gamble, the school board member who resigned, said something to me that struck me. He said, it's like people arguing over the new tires on a car but forgetting to put any gas in it. Tomorrow on The Daily. What is happening inside the schools, and what happens when the school board election gets into full swing?

We'll be right back. Thank you. charges of failing to comply with a congressional subpoena, seeking his testimony and records. Bannon has been subpoenaed by the special committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, which is looking into his role in the insurrection. I just want to say, tell everybody we're here today. I don't want anybody to take their eye off the ball of what we do every day. Bannon was defiant as he arrived at the FBI offices and embraced his image as a Trump loyalist. We're taking down the Biden regime. I want you guys to stay focused, stay on message.

Remember, signal, not noise. This is all noise. And. Austria has begun a lockdown of unvaccinated citizens over the age of 12 to combat a surge in COVID-19 infections and to encourage vaccinations. Over the past two weeks, the average daily number of new infections in Austria has risen by 134% to nearly 11,000, the highest since the pandemic began. So far, about 65% of Austria's residents have been vaccinated against the virus, one of the lowest rates in Western Europe. Today's episode was produced by Jessica Chung and Eric Krupke. It was edited by Lisa Tobin, engineered by Chris Wood,

and contains original music from Marion Lozano and Dan Powell. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderly. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.