Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Mask mandates and other divisive issues created by the coronavirus pandemic and other societal realities have made it a very stressful time to be a school board member, Pennsbury School Board President Christine Toy-Dragoni said in laying out death and other threats made against her and fellow board members in recent months.
In a district news release sent out soon after officials had canceled a Thursday afternoon news conference during which Toy-Dragoni and fellow board members Debra Wachspress and T.R. Kannan were going to talk about the threats, Toy-Dragoni said she has received threats over her school district e-mail, private messages through social media and on her personal cell phone.
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The messages threaten: “every woman in my family with rape, every man in my family with significant injury, publication of my personal information on the internet, loss of my privacy, my murder,” Toy-Dragoni said.
“If all of this wasn’t disgusting enough, several e-mails my fellow board members have received are violently anti-Semitic. Many messages, including the threat of rape against my family members and me, were anti-immigrant. Other messages were horrifically transphobic.
“Because of the grotesque and pervasive nature of these threats, my colleagues are rightfully fearful about speaking out publicly.”
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That might offer an explanation on why the news conference was canceled, though school district officials did not offer an official reason.
“I was not given a reason as to why the press conference was canceled,” Pennsbury Supervisor of Public Relations Jennifer Neill said. She added the district had no further comment.
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Kannan and Wachspress did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the news release, Toy-Dragoni said what’s happening in Pennsbury reflects a national trend, and that she is speaking out at a time when the U.S. Department of Justice is coordinating with local leaders “to facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff.”
She added that she is cooperating fully with authorities in attempts to bring the people making the threats to justice.
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The release comes at a time when school board meeting across the country are becoming more contentious. Federal and local law enforcement authorities have had to step in when threats have come up.
Pennsbury has gained national attention for its handling of editing public comment sessions, some of which have included speakers harshly criticizing the board. The district is now facing a lawsuit over the issue.
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Pennsbury released redacted versions of some of the threatening messages to board members, which include threats reading “Death to the Jew,” “You better grow eyes in the back of your head,” and “You’re lucky those parents don’t kill you and your entire family.”
“Like our Attorney General, I strongly believe that spirited debate about policy matters is protected under the Constitution,” Toy-Dragoni said. “But these threats of violence and sexual assault and these expressions of transphobic, anti-immigrant and anti-Jewish hatred are certainly not protected under the Constitution and must be investigated by the FBI.
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“I will be turning over uncensored copies of the threats against my family and me to our local FBI office. I will fully cooperate with any investigation and prosecution conducted by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.”
The threats will not stop her from continuing to perform her duties to the best of her ability, Toy-Dragoni added.
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“I care about my community, and I am dedicated to the education of our children,” she said. “In the unbelievably difficult environment of a global pandemic, I am incredibly proud of the work our school board and the district have done to educate the students of Pennsbury safely.
“And I can assure the community that our equity and inclusive work for all of our children will not be deterred in the face of these violent threats.”
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