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Mich. school board did not encounter ‘mini-January 6 insurrection’ with parents rushing stage, a member insists

October 31, 2021 | | Print Article

A Michigan school board president who detailed what she called a “mini-January 6 insurrection” in the controversial letter sent by the National School Board Association to the Biden administration earlier this month is now being exposed as an alleged fraud by another member of the same school board.

The NSBA found itself in hot water after penning the letter to the Biden administration suggesting that angry parents at school board meetings pose a “domestic terror” threat, leading many state chapters of the organization to disaffiliate.

Sara Clarke Pierson, President of the Grand Ledge school board in Michigan, was the source of one of the complaints included in the NSBA’s letter. Clarke Pierson claimed that parents rushed the stage of a school board meeting with their fists raised, and went as far as comparing the incident to January 6th in an NPR interview.

Ben Cwayna, also of the Grand Ledge school board, challenged Clarke Pierson’s narrative in the press this week in an attempt to correct the record:

“Normally, the board speaks with one voice through the president to the press and I am usually reluctant to speak on such issues. However, I do feel that this issue should be addressed and the record corrected. I had originally hoped that the record would be corrected at Monday’s meeting with regard to the allegation within the WILX article that parents rushed and took over the stage at the June 14th meeting. Unfortunately, it was not corrected and only addressed obliquely.

“I was present at the June 14th meeting in my capacity as a board member. At no time did any member of the audience take over the stage at the meeting. I witnessed no rushing of the stage or fists being shown. In fact, when the recess was called, I stayed in my chair on the stage and eventually walked down and chatted with some in the audience. If I am not mistaken, one other board member (Jarrod Smith) stayed in his chair as well for awhile and may have walked down into the audience area while we waited for the meeting to reconvene.

“While the meeting was loud, spirited, and at times, raucous, there was absolutely no violence, threat of violence, or anything of the sort. Had there been, I am sure the authorities would have been called and proper action taken against the offenders. I am unsure where the WILX reporter got information that the stage was taken over. It most certainly was not.”

 


(Source: NPR)

Note that Cwayna explains that the school board traditionally only speaks through the voice of their president, in this case, the apparently untruthful Clarke Pierson.

While Cwayna said that he cannot account for interactions board members may have had with the public while leaving the meeting, he “believe[s] equating what occurred on June 14th to any violent event is not an accurate or fair comparison and only serves to heighten the tensions and ill will in an already very fractured community.”

The school board member argued that parents who speak out at meetings do not deserve to be labeled “violent” and “mistaking the passion and anger displayed by parents as a result of being ignored for over a year should not be equated with anything violent.”

Clark Pierson initially made her claim in a WILX-TV interview and repeated it on NPR, who of course, was happy to pick up a story that fit their narrative on education amid a national fight to keep parents involved and in charge of their children’s schooling as the left tries so hard to push them out.

Twitter users were not amused by the school board president’s lies, some even called for her to resign:

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Kay Apfel
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