Washington (AP) — A group representing members of the National Board of Education called on President Joe Biden on Thursday for federal assistance to investigate and thwart threats to policies, including Mask’s obligations.

In a letter to Biden, the National School Board Association interfered with meetings and banned board members, with parents and community members tending to be noticeable from federal law enforcement agencies, directly online and through mail. He said he was threatening.

“No matter how you feel about the mask, you shouldn’t reach this level of rhetoric,” NSBA’s interim secretary-general Chip Slaven told The Associated Press by phone.

Boards across the country were confused by unruly attendees to disrupt business and silence other perspectives.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona threatened when he left the U.S. Senate at a hearing Thursday, saying his department was working with a group of boards of education and needed to “listen carefully” to that concern. He said he would like to hear more about the Secretary of Education’s request to deal with it.

In the meantime, “at the local level, threats need to be thoroughly investigated,” Cardona added.

Threats to school board members are usually handled by local law enforcement agencies. However, the association has called on the federal government to be involved in investigating cases in which threats and violence could be treated as a violation of federal law protecting civil rights. We also called on the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Secret Service to help monitor threat levels and assess risks to students, educators, board members, and school buildings.

“With increasing malice, violence and intimidation of public school staff, the classification of these vicious behaviors may be comparable to the forms of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” the association writes. ..

The association represents more than 90,000 school board members in 14,000 public school districts.

The letter contains more than 20 cases of intimidation, harassment, confusion, and intimidation in California, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio, and other states. It cites an Illinois man arrested in September for worsening batteries and chaotic behavior on suspicion of beating school officials at a meeting. In Michigan, the meeting was interrupted when a man performed a Nazi salute to protest masking.

According to the group, a letter mailed to members of the Ohio Board of Education said, “We will come after you.” “You are forcing them to wear masks — there is no other reason in this world than control, and for that you will pay heartily.”

It called the member a “filthy traitor.”

Last week, a crowd of up to 200 protesters slamming the door and yelling at police closed a school board meeting in Kodarlane, Idaho. There, members were planning to consider a temporary COVID-19 Maskman date.

At a Senate committee hearing on Thursday, Cardona condemned hostility towards school board members and praised their “unwavering support” for the safe reopening of school. He said the lack of politeness at some meetings was disappointing and “extremely dangerous” in some places.

He commented in response to a question from Senator Mike Brown, a former school board member who said the controversial meeting was part of public participation.

The threat goes beyond the board of directors.

The father of an elementary school student in Arizona was arrested in COVID-19 quarantine threatening to “arrest privately” the principal after he and two other men brought zip ties to campus.

Board members are primarily unpaid volunteers, traditionally former educators, and parents who move forward to formulate school policies, select supervisors, and consider budgets. Due to the current climate, more and more people are opposed to resigning or seeking reelection.