The Arkansas School Boards Association on Wednesday ended its decades-old affiliation with the National School Boards Association.
Tony Prothro, executive director of the Arkansas organization, said Wednesday night that the group's board of directors voted early in the day to immediately terminate membership in the national organization -- contingent on the association's delegate assembly voting to strike references to the national group from the state association's bylaws.
"The delegate assembly overwhelmingly did so this afternoon," Prothro said in a text message response to questions about the assembly's decision.
"We are no longer affiliated with the NSBA," he wrote, adding that Arkansas group is the 18th state association to sever ties with the Washington, D.C.-based organization.
He said he anticipates other state associations will follow as they hold their statewide board and delegate meetings in the coming weeks and months. Missouri and Georgia are among the state organizations to have already cut ties.
The votes by the Arkansas organization's board and delegate assembly come after leaders of the national group sent a letter Sept. 29 to President Joe Biden asking for federal law enforcement help in defending against what it said were threats to local school boards and educators that equated to domestic terrorism and hate crimes.
The six-page letter from the national organization's president and its now former interim chief executive called for help from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
Prothro has said that the contents of the letter -- sent without vetting it with the national organization's board of directors or with state associations -- seemed to stifle efforts by the state organization to advance communications of school boards and their patrons.
He also said the letter -- which has since been the subject of an apology by the national group to the state affiliates -- brought to a head years of concerns the state organization has had with the governance, finances, member services and communications of the national body.
Prothro called the letter to the president asking for federal law enforcement intervention "a reflection of the inherent issues within NSBA."
The Arkansas organization last summer declined to pay the state dues to the national group by a July 1 deadline because of those concerns, Prothro has said.
Arkansas has about 1,500 school board members who are elected to unpaid terms of office. The national association provided representation to members in regard to national legislation as well as hosted national conferences on school district operations.
Prothro said Wednesday that the Arkansas association "will be working with other state associations in a combined effort to ensure continuity of services at the national level so that there will be little to no effect o school board members.
The National School Boards Association letter to Biden said public schools and their leaders are under an immediate threat and needed immediate assistance.
The letter asked for collaboration of local, state and federal law enforcement officers to prevent further disruptions to educational services and school district operations, including help with investigating, intercepting and preventing threats and acts of violence.
"NSBA specifically solicits the expertise and resources of the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, and its National Threat Assessment Center regarding the level of risk to public schoolchildren, educators, board members, and facilities/campuses," the letter said.
"We also request the assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to intervene against threatening letters and cyberbullying attacks that have been transmitted to students, school board members, district administrators, and other educators."
The letter listed more than a dozen news accounts of disruptions to school board meetings across the country over face-mask requirements, other covid-19 policies and critical race theory.
"As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes," the national organization's letter stated.
The letter asked for expedited review, training and technical assistance from a wide range of federal agencies.
In an Oct. 22 follow-up letter, the national organization apologized to its members, saying that while safety of school board members, educators and students is the top priority, "there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter."
"We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance," the Oct. 22 letter said. "We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations.
"As we've reiterated since the letter was sent, we deeply value not only the work of local school boards that make important contributions within our communities, but also the voices of parents, who should and must continue to be heard when it comes to decisions about their children's education, health, and safety."
Prothro told state organization members in an email prior to Wednesday's session that while safety is indeed a priority, the national organization went too far in its request for federal intervention on behalf of local school boards