Pennsbury School Board President Details Violent Threats Made Against Board Members
PENNSBURY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) -- There's a disturbing trend happening nationally: Violent threats against school officials and leaders. The Pennsbury School Board president is among these victims and is sharing these threats that have her family on edge.
Those threats have come to every board member in Pennsbury School District -- all who are elected to non-paid positions.
Their president, who is not running for re-election, wants to share her story to help others.
"You are a worthless communist [expletive] who hates this country," one email read.
That is just a sample of the emails Pennsbury's school board president receives on a sometimes daily basis.
"The world would be better without you," read another email.
The messages come to her school email and even her personal cell.
"Racist remarks, threats of violence, threats of putting my information on the internet, threats against my family," Christine Toy-Dragoni said.
Now Toy-Dragoni says she's speaking out not only for those who serve but also their families who like her own, often live in fear.
"My daughter was afraid. We had a neighborhood picnic to go to and she said, 'Mom, do you think it's safe for us to go?'" she said.
It comes as the U.S. Attorney General cites an increase in harassment and intimidation against school leaders and teachers, often tied to political issues including masking and equity education.
"Pennsbury hired an equity director. And around the time that nationally people started talking about critical race theory is when we started getting these threats," Toy-Dragoni said.
Many threats are coming from outside the district.
"Admittedly they say, 'I'm from Maryland. I'm from Ohio,'" Toy-Dragoni said.
Her board is currently forwarding every communication to federal investigators, hopeful to stop these scare tactics from scaring off others who want to serve.
"I think we will lose good people, decent people," she said.
Threats of violence against school board members, officials, and workers in our nation's public schools can be reported by the public to the FBI's National Threat Operations Center via its national tip line (1-800-CALL-FBI) and online through the FBI website.