After a series of social media posts highlighting controversial books distributed in the Chapel Hill‒Carrboro City Schools libraries, state House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, R-Columbus; and House Republicans called a hearing for the House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform, to take place Wednesday morning.
In one recent viral post, Jones highlighted the story “Santa’s Husband,” which allegedly is a “top pick” for young readers in the CHCCS system. In the book, Santa Claus is depicted as a black, gay man in a mixed-race relationship whose reindeer subsist on a diet of gluten-free, organic grains.
But it isn’t the only book he flagged for concern in the school system.
In a separate post, Jones pointed out four books promoting nudity among young children, including one titled “These are my EYES, This is my NOSE, This is my VULVA, These are my TOES.”
At issue is Republicans’ accusation that CHCCS is openly flouting the recently passed SB49, aka the “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”
Among other things, the law gives parents the right to consent (or withhold consent) on lessons on sex-related topics. It also grants them the right to access and review textbooks — and to raise concerns, accordingly.
“We passed [SB49] in good faith that school systems would abide,” Jones told the Carolina Journal on Tuesday. “It was, as far as we knew and what we could see, that the school systems were doing what they’re supposed to,” he added. “But this particular school board publicly and defiantly got online and said they just were not going to adhere to the law.”
A viral video on social media, posted by the popular Libs of TikTok account, showed CHCCS Board of Education Chair George Griffin bragging about the noncompliance with the law, which was passed in August 2023 after the General Assembly overrode a veto from then-Gov. Roy Cooper.
“We’re the only school district in North Carolina, of 115 school districts, that stood up to the General Assembly and said, ‘We’re not doing this,’” Griffin said in the clip.
He called the Parents’ Bill of Rights “ludicrous” and said it sought to “wordsmith policies that legitimized discrimination.”
Jones begged to differ, saying the interest that his posts had garnered on social media spoke for themselves.
“The average American citizen does not want their children taught this filth in [kindergarten] to fourth grade,” he said.
“When you have failing test scores, you should be worried about reading, writing, and arithmetic, not worried about these ideological, political motives that these school boards and teachers have,” Jones added. “I’m not surprised that mainstream Americans despised what was going on.”
Griffin and CHCCS Superintendent Rodney Trice, both of whom are expected to testify at the committee hearing on Wednesday, have officially denied noncompliance with laws — including SB49 — in their written testimony.
Jones said he expected a robust discussion of the matter and would “continue encouraging them” to adhere to the rule of law.
“What I hope comes out of this, I hope that they fall in line with the other 114 districts in this state,” he said. “We’re not going to let one rogue district go out there and do their own thing. So, I hope … they’ll admit to their faults and then they agree to do what they’re supposed to do, and we won’t have any more issues.”
While the oversight hearing is expected to focus exclusively on CHCCS, others have suggested the issue of noncompliance with the spirit, if not the letter, of the law is more widespread.
The group Moms For Liberty, which has more than two dozen local chapters in North Carolina counties, has cataloged a list of controversial books among its resources for parents.
A North Carolina-based group, the Pavement Education Project, also has been tracking inappropriate books in school libraries throughout the state. In response to the posts from Jones, it warned that other schools had the very same books on their shelves.
Speaking on Charlotte‒Mecklenburg schools, Longleaf Politics blogger Andrew Dunn recounted in a Monday post, his third-grade daughter being taught to vilify Christopher Columbus.
“The Parents’ Bill of Rights was supposed to move us toward transparency, but in practice, districts like Charlotte‒Mecklenburg Schools have chosen to maliciously comply,” he wrote. “There are new forms, new policies, new emails. But I don’t actually know much more about what my children are being taught than I did before the law passed, and it’s not for lack of trying.”
He called on the General Assembly to do more to streamline the educational guidance with “clear, plain-language expectations for each grade” and “standards written so a normal parent can read them.”
Monroe Mayor Robert Burns also has become a public face on the issue of school indoctrination in North Carolina. Burns weighed in on another post in November from Libs of TikTok, highlighting a mandatory classroom assignment at Piedmont High School that graded students on their attitudes about immigration with right and wrong answers.
Burns, a graduate of the school, told the Carolina Journal that he had been in communication with concerned parents and had taken the matter directly to school officials.
“I reached out and spoke to someone directly with UCPS administration. They were floored also,” Burns said.
“This is not something that they want to be remembered or known for at all, and that it was going to be investigated, is what I was told,” he added.
He said he hoped to urge the General Assembly to strengthen SB49 and, particularly, to extend its protections beyond elementary schools to address indoctrination issues among older students.
“I’m very interested in hearing what their perspective is and what can be done, because we need to start holding these teachers accountable,” Burns said.
In addition to the General Assembly, local school boards and county officials needed to join the effort, he said.
“Our children are our future, and we need to protect them, and we need to honor them,” Burns said. “And children deserve the right to go and get an education in an unbiased, non-political classroom.”
Although Republicans in the General Assembly no longer have the veto-proof majority they did when SB49 passed, Jones said if other noncompliance issues came to his attention, there were options legislators could consider, like filing local bills instead of the state-wide bills.
“If we have to go down that wormhole and go by district by district, I think this General Assembly will do what it has to,” he said. “We’ve made a commitment to protect children, and we’re not going to waver from that commitment.”