Top N.H. education official spreads abortion claim without evidence

He alluded also to an eye-catching allegation about abortion, suggesting that an educator had been accused of calling in sick to take a student to terminate a pregnancy without the student’s parents knowing. Was that accusation found to be true? He did not say.

Two days after Edelblut’s op-ed was published on the department’s website, officials still have not provided any additional information to substantiate the abortion-related claim. It’s not clear when or where that allegation may have been raised, who investigated it, and whether it was deemed credible.

Edelblut has not responded to inquiries from the Boston Globe, and a spokesperson for the Education Department declined Wednesday to say whether any authority had vetted the allegation. The spokesperson said educator misconduct investigations are confidential.

The Justice Department referred all questions back to the Education Department.

Edelblut’s op-ed, which bemoaned liberal media bias and a purported “transgender social contagion,” came in direct response to in-depth reporting from New Hampshire Public Radio about how Edelblut has used his office to join in waging a culture war.

School administrators and educators quoted in NHPR’s reports said they worry about the extent of Edelblut’s interference with local control, as his department has elevated concerns about individual books and situations, particularly on topics related to racial diversity and LGBTQ people.

Rather than answer NHPR’s questions, Edelblut released the op-ed as a generalized response, along with a list of the questions he said NHPR had submitted. He argued the reporting had failed to explore all sides.

“What is missing from the NHPR list of questions,” he wrote, “is a lack of curiosity for the educators and students who have raised concerns about these circumstances in their schools.”

With two chunky paragraphs in the middle of his jeremiad, Edelblut asked rhetorically whether his department should muster any response at all when it receives complaints. He rattled off eight examples, some of which were awfully specific.

“How should the Department respond when a parent has reached out to express concern that a teacher had called a student a ‘White supremacist’ and confiscated their Trump flag while ignoring the student wearing the Pride flag? … Or when an art teacher, rather than teaching art, introduces children to Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ for Kids, without consulting with parents or school leadership,” he wrote. “Should we look the other way?”

Edelblut has previously cited the art teacher example as something that happened in a New Hampshire classroom, which suggests the other examples he listed in his latest op-ed should be taken literally as well.

That would include his references to alcohol and abortion: Edelblut asked what the department should do “when a student teacher reports that their mentor teacher is drinking on the job and other educators turn a blind eye,” or “when, allegedly, an educator lies by calling in sick so they can take a student — without parental knowledge — to get an abortion.”

The op-ed included enough detail to inspire public mistrust of New Hampshire educators, but not enough detail to verify the allegations.

This is far from Edelblut’s first brush with controversy.

In 2021, he delivered a speech to what Republican Governor Chris Sununu called a “fringe group” with a history of supporting “anti-government actions.” Sununu called Edelblut’s decision in that situation “inappropriate.” (Sununu’s spokespeople did not respond this week to a request for comment on Edelblut’s op-ed.)

In 2022, Edelblut published an op-ed that critics slammed as “manufactured outrage.” He included a packet of instructional material that he said parents had identified as “conflicting with their values.” (A transgender teacher whose work was featured in that document has since left the profession entirely, as NHPR reported this week.)

In 2023, Edelblut successfully lobbied the State Board of Education to authorize academic credit for an online course from PragerU, a right-wing nonprofit with an openly anti-“woke” agenda. (He also helped promote PragerU’s broader aims behind the scenes, as NHPR reported last fall.)

Edelblut expressed disappointment when New Hampshire lawmakers defeated a Republican-backed “parental rights” bill last May. His op-ed this week echoed that contentious policy debate by stoking concerns about secrecy between school personnel and students.

While NHPR’s latest reports paint Edelblut’s actions as fueling culture wars, Edelblut urged local school personnel to view his influence as mere “feedback,” take it or leave it.

“Educational leaders should be able to reflect and determine if that feedback means that they should modify their approach or not,” he wrote. “Great organizations and good leaders thrive on feedback.”

Edelblut said the same is true of recent news coverage. He said NHPR’s reporting serves as feedback for him and the department.

Toward the end of his op-ed, Edelblut erroneously identified the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania as an “Indian Tribe” and noted their traditional greeting: “Kasserian ingera?” or “How are the children?”

“When I assumed this role in 2017, I committed to being 100% focused on the children,” he concluded. “Thank God someone is looking out for the children.”

This story was updated to include a response from an Education Department spokesperson.

Steven Porter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @reporterporter.