Parents can now see the FBI files opened on them. Here's what Virginians should ask for

The Justice Department says parents who ended up in FBI files for speaking out at school board meetings will finally get to see them. It is a welcome admission. But the department's new report is thin on how any of this will work, so Virginia parents who think they may have been swept up should know what to ask.

The promise appears at the end of DOJ's 273-page "2026 Report to Expose the Weaponization of Government Against Parents in Schools," released this week by the department's Weaponization Working Group and dated Oct. 5. The report details how former Attorney General Merrick Garland's Oct. 4, 2021 memo, issued five days after the Alexandria-based National School Boards Association asked President Biden to treat parents' conduct as possible "domestic terrorism," led the FBI to start tracking school board "threats."

Start with what the FBI built. An FBI document reprinted in the report says a threat tag called "EDUOFFICIALS" was "created in response to" the Garland memo. A joint message from the bureau's Criminal Investigative and Counterterrorism divisions, sent Oct. 20, 2021, asked agents to apply it to all investigations and assessments of threats against educators and school board members. Citing the FBI's response to House investigators, the report says the bureau opened 25 "Guardian" assessments. Six were run out of the Counterterrorism Division and two involved the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate. One became a full investigation. According to a whistleblower cited by House investigators, one mother was investigated because she belonged to a "right-wing mom's group" and "is a gun owner," and a father because "he rail[ed] against the government."

The result, by DOJ's own count, was zero known prosecutions. "The Weaponization Working Group is unaware of any prosecutions by the Department of Justice that arose from those investigations," the report says.

Is Virginia in those files? The report does not say. An internal FBI tally from November 2021 lists 16 open EDUOFFICIALS assessments in 13 field offices: three in Detroit, two in Portland, and one each in Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Newark, Omaha, San Diego, San Francisco and the Washington Field Office. The report does not say which jurisdictions any of those cases involved.

Here is what DOJ is promising, in its own words, and what Virginia parents can ask for under each item.

First, parents "who became the subject or target of an FBI Guardian assessment as a result of the Garland Memorandum will be offered the opportunity to review the Guardian." The obvious question is whether DOJ will notify people or whether parents must come forward. The report does not say. Parents should ask the department directly whether any assessment carries their name.

Second, a disclaimer will be added to every Guardian tied to the memo, noting that it "raised serious constitutional concerns" and that the assessment "should be read with caution." Parents who find a file should ask to confirm the disclaimer has actually been attached.

Third, DOJ "will review the files of anyone who was investigated under the Garland Memorandum to determine if their constitutional rights were violated." Where it finds a violation, "the Department will issue a formal apology and institute internal controls as necessary to prevent repeating the violation." Parents are entitled to ask for the result of that review in writing.

Fourth, DOJ is awarding $1.5 million to the National Association of School Resource Officers for training to help inform school employees "regarding the rights of parents." Fifth, the Office of Justice Programs is prioritizing funding to train teachers and staff on parents' First Amendment rights and their right "to direct and guide the upbringing and education of their children." Virginia parents can ask their school divisions whether their resource officers and staff will receive that training.

Department leaders made the commitment personal at a June 11 roundtable reprinted in the report. Then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told parents, "it doesn't help you to apologize, but I will." Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward promised Loudoun father Scott Smith, "Scott, to your ask about what records there are, we're on it." Smith had been arrested at a June 2021 school board meeting weeks after his daughter was sexually assaulted at school. Woodward also said DOJ found an internal email, "We might as well call this the anti MAGA task force," that was "not produced to Congress."

Smith asked for accountability for the people behind the memo. "They have no place in your DOJ," he said. FBI Director Kash Patel told the room the bureau no longer employs personnel who took part in the memo process.

The report is a real step. But a promise to let parents "review" files means little without a process, a deadline and a contact. Until DOJ publishes those, Virginia parents should keep asking.