Mitigating Threats Against School Board Officials: Mixed Methods Research to Understand and Respond to Rising Hostility
Key Finding
Mixed-methods research on rising hostility directed at school board officials, informing strategies to understand and respond to the threat.
About this research
Produced by the Bridging Divides Initiative with CivicPulse, this mixed-methods report combines a survey of more than 820 school board members fielded through 2024, nearly 40 in-depth interviews, and BDI’s own longitudinal database of threat and harassment incidents to document hostility directed at school board officials, including threats that reach into their personal and family lives. It finds this hostility has intensified around the 2024 election and related federal policy shifts, but that many officials have developed effective strategies to push back and remain in their roles.
