RALEIGH — Republican lawmakers on the North Carolina House Oversight Committee heavily criticized officials from Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools over the district’s apparent failure to follow the state’s Parents’ Bill of Rights law during a hearing last Wednesday.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools’ Board Chair George Griffin and Superintendent Rodney Trice were called to testify and faced over two hours of heated questioning for comments made by Griffin and board actions taken during a January 2024 school board meeting.
The meeting, held Jan. 18, 2024, was recorded and shows Griffin making comments aimed at ignoring provisions of the Parents’ Bill of Rights (Senate Bill 49), calling the law, “just morally wrong” and stating, “We’re not going to do it this way.” He also told the board, “My recommendation is that we not comply with the law, and that we say so cleanly.”
One of the provisions the district is accused of attempting to circumvent is the right of parents to be notified before a school changes their child’s name or pronouns and the other involves the ban on sexually inappropriate or gender identity materials in grades K-4.
The written testimony submitted by Griffin and Trice are very similar and both claim the district is “in compliance with the law-including the Parents Bill of Rights.”
Trice had resigned as the director of the Wake County Public Schools’ Office of Equity Affairs (OEA) before taking up an assistant spot and then later the superintendent role for CHCCS. Trice’s OEA conducted Critical Race Theory (CRT) training for all teachers. Some trainings were conducted by OEA staff and others by The Equity Collaborative, a CRT-training company founded and run by state Sen. Graig Meyer (D-Orange).
Committee Co-Chair Rep. Brendan Jones (R-Columbus) opened meeting with a lengthy prepared statement aimed at Griffin and Trice. He also warned other districts could end up in front of the committee for violating the law.
“Make no mistake, you’re not here today because of a misunderstanding. You’re here today because you chose to wage war against the law,” Jones said. “You chose to deceive the public. And now you’re here because you got caught. And I’ll be honest, for the next two hours, it’s going to be uncomfortable because you deserve to be uncomfortable.”
Jones went on to call the actions, a “coordinated middle finger to this legislature and to every parent in your district.”
“Let me remind you of something: No one in North Carolina is above the law,” Jones said. “Especially not a public official who holds the trust of our children.”
Jones went on to give examples of “what really went on inside your schools” that included a book written by a CHCCS “equity specialist” that has a chapter titled “We Make Some Woke Kids.”
Jones said the district had promoted “resources” using Critical Race Theory, as well as books recommended to elementary students with titles such as “Santa’s Hug,” “It isn’t rude to be nude,” and “These are my eyes, this is my nose, this is my vulva, these are my toes.”
The Columbus lawmaker called the activities by CNCSS “grooming behavior” and said the district had scrubbed its websites after the committee began to investigate.
“Parents see what you did. And we’re not buying what you’re selling,” said Jones.
Throughout the hearing, Griffin was asked multiple times about his Jan. 18 meeting remarks to which he repeatedly claimed the board had followed the law.
“You intentionally stripped two core provisions from S.B. 49, the parent notification and the K-4 gender instruction ban. Why did you remove them?” Jones asked Griffin.
“We didn’t include the pronoun clause in our policy that night. But we directed our staff to write written guidance, and that is consistent with the law,” Griffin replied.
Jones asked again, “Why did you remove them? Why did you remove them from the two core provisions that you openly stated?”
“The board voted unanimously to remove it because we thought it targeted a group of students,” Griffin answered.
When asked if the board consulted legal counsel before the vote, Griffin said he didn’t “recall” consulting legal counsel. He later said the staff had instead created “guidance” that Griffin claimed, “Our guidance was directly aligned with the law.”
On the books mentioned by Jones, Trice said he was unfamiliar with or had no knowledge of the books. Trice said that some links on their website went to third-party resources for parents, and CHCSS doesn’t approve all content that is linked off their website.
“Will you commit right now, under oath, to a full and permanent compliance with S.B. 49, including parental notification of the K-4 instruction ban in policy?” Jones asked Trice.
“As superintendent of the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools, I will follow the law as written,” Trice replied.
During questioning, Rep. Mike Schietzelt (R-Wake) said Griffin’s testimony was “like watching a shapeshifter” and pressed Griffin multiple times if he believed the Parents’ Bill of Rights was constitutional, to which Griffin said he was “not an attorney” but did admit CHCCS’ nondiscrimination policy was “at odds” with the law.
Three Democrats on the Committee, Reps. Maria Cervania (Wake), Allison Dahle (Wake), and Amos Quick (Guilford), objected to the heated nature of the hearing.
Dahle, who is gay, said, “This is an attack on gay trans people” and called the hearing a “kangaroo court.” Quick, who was late to the hearing but watched some of it on his phone, said the hearing was “good TV” and “embarrassing.”
Near the end of the hearing, Jones also accused Griffin of perjuring himself by claiming CHCCS was in compliance with the law when an email Griffin sent on Feb. 12 seemed to say the opposite.
“Either you are perjuring yourself or maybe you just have a really bad memory because on Feb. 12, almost a month later, you sent an email,” Jones said holding up a copy of the email in which Griffin wrote that the board had “unanimously voted not to develop policies” and cited CHCCS’ core value of “Social Justice Action.”
“So are you lying today or did you just forget about what you wrote? It says right there you adopted the board with two exceptions. Which is it?” asked Jones. “Did you adhere or did you change to go with the mission statement — one or the other. You wrote it. These are your words, not mine.”
Griffin responded, “We adhered to the law.”
“So you lied in this email to these persons?” Jones pressed.
“I wouldn’t say I lied,” Griffin replied, and later added, “I may not have been as clear as I wished I could have been.”
Jones was visibly angry at Griffin’s response, and raised his voice told Griffin.
“This has nothing to with clear,” Jones said. “This is a lie. These are lies. You are under oath. … You swore to tell the truth today and you lied.”
Questioning of Trice by Committee Co-Chair Rep. Harry Warren (R-Rowan) revealed CHCCS was in financial trouble, with a general fund balance of $300,000. Trice said county commissioners indicated they would be “our backstop in a financial crisis until we can get back to a healthy spot.”
CHCSS enrollment drops were also brought up, particularly in elementary grades, which Trice attributed to lower birth rates and lack of housing. Members of the committee felt the drop might be linked to “woke” indoctrination in the district.
The committee issued a letter to Griffin following the hearing, requesting he clarify in writing some of the answers given during the hearing.
The letter also asks for “follow ups” on items and materials requested by the committee as well as an ongoing delivery on the 15th of each month of responsive documents previously requested by the committee in its Oct. 30 letter to the district.
