An amended vote ordered the immediate removal of equity, diversity, and inclusion as one of the six pillars of the district’s strategic plan. The plan, which was supposed to guide the district from 2022-2027, was based, in part, on interviews with over 5,000 community members; 76% rated EDI as a top priority. (The website for the strategic plan has been removed since the meeting.)
Superintendent Dr. Christopher Barnes is directed to work through the district’s policies and procedures to remove other instances of DEI.
The move, in part, was precipitated by a letter from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) insisting this language be removed from school systems across the nation by February 28 or face a potential loss of federal funding. (Note: You can find the OCR letter at the end of this report.)
The U.S. Department of Education’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, wrote that “Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built up ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices,” but maintained that “discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, is, has been, and will continue to be illegal.”
Guidance from the North Carolina School Boards Association (NCSBA) also suggests that language around gender identity and gender issues could run afoul of recent executive directives from the Trump administration. (Note: You can find that guidance at the end of this report.)
Justice said during this discussion that Congress appropriates the budget for the U.S. Department of Education. She argued that when the President and his administration issue these orders, they might eventually be struck down in court. She added that the remarks from the right are “political posturing” and the term DEI “has been turned into a political code word.”
Merrick said the way the vote was taken did not align with current policies (2330 and 2450), which lay out the process for adding voting items to the agenda, including advanced notice for the public. (The policies can be waived, but only with a majority vote.) He noted he had to follow these processes to add an item for discussion and then for a potential vote in the past.
“We cannot vote on something that's going to affect policy or budgetary concerns without first having it in a publicly produced, published agenda,” he said.
Some Republican members argued that the schedule for the agenda review meeting, there was notice of a 30-minute discussion on ‘presidential mandate’ under ‘New Business.’ However, there were no attachment items for the public to view.
The Republican members maintained they needed to vote before the February 28 deadline. At the outset of the meeting, as member David Perry and Merrick sparred over the timing of the vote, Perry said he’d initially wanted to put a motion on the upcoming regular meeting agenda — but had to do it more quickly because of the short time frame allowed by federal directives.
Both Board members Pete Wildeboer and Melissa Mason said they had to vote now, or 368 jobs funded with federal money could be lost. The federal government provided nearly $20 million of this year’s budget.
Merrick and Justice argued the district would not lose funding for this year if they missed that deadline.
NHCS Superintendent Dr. Christopher Barnes said that federal money for this fiscal year — which runs through June — has already been allocated. However, as of July 1, he said they could lose funding if they didn’t show some effort with compliance.
Before the vote, board attorneys Norwood Blanchard and Brian Kromke said they couldn’t give the board a definitive answer on what to do because they had received differing guidance from OCR, the North Carolina School Boards Association, and the state superintendent’s office, but that they could help them navigate the potential of funding loss.
“There is no legal treatise I can pick up and tell you that road map; you're going to have to figure it out as a board with advice from all these different entities, from Mr. Blanchard and I — to try to eliminate politics from this DEI topic is impossible — that, the board is going to have to deal with internally in open session. I can't help you with that either. We can only suggest these are pathways to not losing funding,” Kromke said.
Board member Josie Barnhart said the OCR changes were “common sense coming from the President” but understood the debate arising from this “controversial” topic.
Merrick provided an example of the Biden administration’s directives on Title IX, some of which were struck down.
“The same thing is going to happen with a lot of these executive orders. Some of them are clearly unconstitutional, but we can't risk it. In the meantime, I do agree that we should take a look at our strategic plan,” he said.
Resources
- State Superintendent Mo Green’s guidance here
OCR and NCSBA Combine by Ben Schachtman on Scribd
