Our Reporting is Protecting Parents’ Rights in North Carolina—With Your Help
Restoration News was the first to expose the school boards failing to enact the North Carolina Parents’ Bill of Rights. That’s changing—but there’s more work to be done.
When it comes to passing and implementing the Parents’ Bill of Rights in North Carolina, families have faced an uphill battle from the start. Now that struggle is bearing fruit.
Since we began reporting on the school boards failing—or refusing—to put the new law into practice, 3 districts have become compliant with the law: Chatham, Haywood, and Macon Counties.
We spoke with the Whiteville City Schools Superintendent Jonathan Williams who indicated that his district was waiting for guidance from the North Carolina School Board Association, and he was under the impression that the law wasn’t effective until next school year. When Restoration News pointed out the legislation lists an effective date of Dec. 1, 2023, Dr. Williams responded that he would “bring our district up to full compliance.”
Other districts have not responded or have told us that their attorneys would respond to our inquiries about whether they intend to become compliant with the law—to date no response from the attorneys.
This is massive step forward for the parents in these school districts, many of whom aren’t yet aware of the critical protections they enjoy under the Parents’ Bill of Rights—or the radical Democrats, like Gov. Roy Cooper and gubernatorial nominee Josh Stein, who want to rob them of their kids. Recall that Cooper vetoed the Parents’ Bill of Rights… leaving it up to the Republican legislature to override his veto.
“One of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s top priorities has always been fighting for parents to have control over educating their kids—not a bloated government bureaucracy,” Mike Lonergan, communications director for Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign, told Restoration News.
“Mark has always been a strong advocate for school choice and the North Carolina Parents’ Bill of Rights. When district bureaucrats choose not to comply, parents ought to be able to choose to send their kids to another school of their choice and not be trapped because they can’t afford it. And for bureaucracies that don’t abide by the law, there must be consequences as provided for by law.
“As governor, one of Mark Robinson’s top priorities will always be to ensure every child has the chance to get a quality education so they can succeed in life,” he added.
Next Steps
Important parts of the law that some districts still refuse to incorporate are the requirements to notify parents prior to any student name or pronoun change and to prohibit the instruction of gender identity, sexual activity or sexuality in kindergarten through fourth grade. These school boards continue to defy the law because no one is holding them accountable:
- Alleghany County Schools
- Ashe County Schools
- Asheville City Schools
- Avery County Schools
- Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
- Durham Public Schools
- Graham County Schools
- Halifax County Schools
- Hoke County Schools
- Jackson County Schools
- Mitchell County Schools
- Stanly County Schools (seeking to adopt to include more grade levels)
- Tyrrell County Schools
- Warren County Schools
- Weldon City Schools
- Whiteville City Schools (indicates it will become compliant)
- Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board Chair George Griffin (D) reportedly consulted with the district attorney prior to the school board voting unanimously to defy the Parents’ Bill of Rights legislation. Restoration News reached out to District Attorney Jeff Nieman (D) for comment but received no response. Nieman also donated to Griffin’s school board campaign. “We’ll deal with the possible legal or political ramifications as they come up,” said Griffin as he and his board ignore state law.
One wonders: Is the Democrat district attorney advising the school board to defy the law?
School Boards Sexualizing Children
The Left’s twisted ideology says it’s OK to sexualize 6-year-olds in the classroom. That should concern parents in every district that refuses to adopt the Parents’ Bill of Rights prohibits “supplemental or support materials” promoting gender identity, sexual identity, and teaching sex to children.
Some argue that library books aren’t supplemental materials and therefore not covered under the law but that isn’t what school board policies in North Carolina indicate. Most districts use the same policy language established by the North Carolina School Board Association. Policy 3200 “selection of instructional materials” states:
Supplementary materials are instructional and learning resources which are selected to complement, support, enrich or extend the curriculum. Such resources include, for example . . . library materials.
Check out the Pavement Education Project—it’s a resource working to alert parents about harmful materials in schools across North Carolina that sexualize children and push gender ideology.
One book found in elementary schools across the state that parrots the trans agenda is Who Are You? The Kids’ Guide to Gender Identity by Brook Pessin-Whedbee. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City district even pushes some of these books on children in its “Summer Reading Lists.” A book available to young children at Alderman Elementary in Guilford County—I’ll Give You the Sun—details explicit sex acts. Many similar sexually explicit books such as Darius the Great Deserves Better are found in a large number of elementary schools in Chatham County.
If an adult tried to give these books to children on the street, they could be arrested. Yet, Democrats on school boards continue their agenda to sexualize young children in schools. Parents in North Carolina should be disgusted and stop letting them get by with it.
The Parents’ Bill of Rights provides remedies—including legal action—if school boards do not comply with the law. Also, state law (NC § 14-230) is clear that if a school board member refuses to “discharge any of the duties of his office . . . he shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.” The law further indicates that if convicted he “shall be punished by removal” from office. Why aren’t local district attorneys filing charges against school board members who refuse to obey the law?
If you live in a school district in North Carolina that refuses to adopt the Parents’ Bill of Rights, please reach out to the author: [email protected].
(READ MORE: Roy Cooper Joins Trans Activists to Torpedo Parents’ Rights In North Carolina)
