North Carolina schools deceive parents, push radical agenda
May 30, 2023
Accuracy in Media went undercover to school districts across the southern Republican state of North Carolina, a state fighting to limit offshoots of Critical Race Theory from being taught in K-12 education.
When AIM investigators asked questions relating to teaching CRT principles to children “under the radar,” district staff and teachers ensured our investigators that equity was indeed a part of the curriculum.
Sherry Barnett, a digital learning lead teacher at Rockingham County Schools, indicates that they “are very careful with wording” because words like “white privilege” give some people a “negative feeling.” Barnett also noted that the district’s curriculum staff, central office, and principals had all been through a diversity training where they were taught the difference between “fair versus equal” and “equity versus equality”.
Previous AIM investigations have caught school officials admitting to the fact that they change wording to certain key phrases in Critical Race Theory and similar teachings to avoid scrutiny from parents.
In Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Nick Pantano, director of student assignment, proudly declared that his wife, a fifth grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary, often says, “If I taught in Texas, I’d be fired.” When asked to elaborate, Pantano told AIM investigators that his wife teaches her students concepts of “white privilege, historical racial inequities,” and others.
Multiple North Carolina school districts also state that they use an education subscription service called Newsela. The service partners with leftist organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, Zinn Education Project, and the New York Times’ 1619 Project.
Sherry Barnett shares that the district purchases it for their secondary schools but they “do have elementary schools use it as well.”
Dr. Ernetta Cagle, the Title I and family outreach coordinator for Durham Public Schools, when asked if they utilize Newsela, stated that “they do a lot of Newsela in middle school.”
It has become clear that schools, even in southern red states, have become breeding grounds for injections of equity ideology into classrooms. AIM has proven that even with laws being passed, like HB 3979 in Texas, some school officials feel morally obligated to break state law to teach students subjects relating to CRT.
The only solution is to allow the money to follow the student, with universal school choice, allowing parents to decide what is best for their children, not the government.