Opinion
Preschool indoctrination and other outrageous stories
More depressing dispatches from the land of woke prosecutors.
News
Wake principal denies face mask exemption for kindergartener with disabilities
A Wake County principal has denied a mask exemption request for a kindergartener with disabilities, according to a recorded phone call released by the anonymous parent. The child involved in the case had an exemption from a doctor for a face mask due to a sensory processing disorder. Wearing a mask causes the student anxiety...
News
State’s public schools see large enrollment declines during COVID-19
Public school systems in the Tar Heel State are experiencing the highest declines in student enrollment in decades. Since the pandemic arrived in North Carolina last March, student enrollment in public schools has declined 4.4%, or nearly 63,000 students. For context, that number is nearly the size of North Carolina’s third-largest school district, Guilford County’s....
News
Mental health advocates support return of full-time classroom instruction
Mental health experts who are also parents with students in Wake County Public Schools are sounding an alarm over a rising mental health crisis due to a lack of full-time classroom instruction. “Stop hiding behind fear and listening to the politically based [N.C. Association of Educators],” said mental health specialist Renee Avis, referring to the...
News
Wake parents, with letter, urge Cooper to reopen schools
A group of Wake County parents has written Gov. Roy Cooper asking him to reopen schools for in-person instruction. Wake is the state’s largest school system. “There is no rational basis for restricting public-school children in one set of schools while allowing private school children in the same neighborhood to enjoy the benefits of in-person...
Opinion
Taking inventory of social justice teaching in public schools
Wake County parent Dina Bartus garnered national attention recently for exposing a controversial assignment given to her child and other 10th–graders at Heritage High School in Wake Forest. The “diversity inventory” assignment was a worksheet that inquired about the gender, race/ethnicity, age, sexuality, ability, religion and socio-economic status of students and their classmates, teachers, close...
Opinion
To understand appeal of charter schools, start by talking with parents
In 2011, Thom Tillis, Phil Berger, and the Republican leadership in the N.C. General Assembly removed the 100-school school cap included in the 1996 law that authorized the creation of charter schools, which are tuition-free public schools that have more freedom than district-run public schools. Removing the cap, along with providing opportunities for enrollment expansion...
Opinion
Who decides what public schools teach?
I don’t write much about what happens inside of the classroom simply because there is so little information about it. Content standards adopted by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction outline the sequence, topics, and learning goals for each grade and subject. Curricula and instructional decisions are made on the district, school, and departmental levels....
News
Restorative justice focuses on healing, not punishment
Panelists at Campbell Law School offered a different path to resolving conflicts — in the criminal justice system and in disciplinary situations in K-12 schools. The Restorative Justice Panel featured four panelists Oct. 16 at Campbell law school, where the Restorative Justice Clinic resides. Panelists included Jon Powell, Campbell law professor and director of the...
News
Study committee doesn’t recommend splitting up large school districts
Lawmakers aren’t likely to split up North Carolina’s largest school districts any time soon. The Joint Legislative Study Committee on the Division of Local School Administrative Units briefly met Wednesday, April 11, to unanimously approve a draft report documenting its findings. The draft report didn’t recommend breaking up large districts, such as Wake County or...
News
Some Wake Parents Voting with Feet
RALEIGH — Faced with the threat of forced conversion to a year-round public school schedule in Wake County, Cary resident Linda Hayduk and her husband are taking matters into their own hands by leaving the county rather than allow the reassignment to split their family apart.
