Orange County School Board Sept Meeting Report

The activist Orange County School Board needs to be stopped!

Please read our notes from the most recent Orange County School board meeting. It is clear that the Board will not stop their activist ways and will continue to lie to the public and execute their activist-equity agenda regardless of how it destroys our trust in our schools and teachers!

The school administration is being emboldened by the state DPI and the teachers union in silencing any teacher who disagrees with their equity (CRT) agenda to the point of suspensions and dismissals! This does not sound like a free and functioning society! This Board outright flaunts their hatred of our country by not recognizing our great symbols, namely the American and state flags and the Pledge of Allegiance. They have utterly insulted any American who survived the terrorist attacks on September 11 with no mention of it at all despite the meeting being held just two days after the 20th year of remembrance of that horrible and horrendous day.

Our kids tried to represent their love of our country at the last OHS home football game. Please see the beautiful picture above! It is speculated that this event was the impetus of the Board's decision to limit fan participation and mask up our athletes at outdoor events. Based on science? I think not!!!

Please email the board members and voice your displeasure and disgust. Tell them to stop their activism, and show up at the next meeting on September 27 and sign up for public comments to push back on their equity agenda! You won't see an agenda or an opportunity to sign up for public comment until a day before the meeting. This is on purpose to dissuade you from speaking up and pushing back. Email them and ask them to provide the agenda and the public comment sign-up a week in advance. There should be no restrictions on in-person attendance at these meetings.

Email them, pressure them, and most of all vote them out of office in March! 

For additional commentary and to view photos taken at the meeting, read this article at the EdFirstNC website.

To read more about how the state's Department of Public Instruction is utilizing Covid-relief funds to push Social Emotional Learning (or SEL, another iteration of CRT), go here.

Email us, follow us on Twitter at our education-focused Twitter account, or visit the Concerned Citizens of Orange County Schools website to learn more and get involved.

- Orange County GOP Education Action Team

** TAILGATE PARTY and PROTEST **

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th @ 6:00pm before the Orange High School Home Football Game
Student Parking Lot
500 Orange High School Rd, Hillsborough, NC 27278

Join in support of students and athletes of Orange County Schools!

In protest of: (Bring your protest signs in good taste) 

  • Sporting event spectator limits
  • Required mask usage for athletes during game competition
  • Signage restrictions
  • Mask mandates
  • Teacher and staff vaccine mandates

Bring your favorite tailgate food, games (e.g., cornhole), music and/or game broadcast speakers and proudly bring flags supporting your favorite cause, country, creed or school! All flags in good taste welcome (e.g., American flag, Mexican flag, Panther & Cedar Ridge, Orange, Stanback & Gravelly Hill Middle, FCA, Pride, Back the Blue, Military, religious, etc.).

NO ALCOHOL or SIGNAGE IN BAD TASTE ALLOWED!

Notes from the September 13th Orange County School Board meeting held at Gravelly Hill Middle School Media Center

  • Took more than 1 ½ years to finally meet in person.
  • The agenda for the meeting was given too close to the meeting. It is not enough time for parents to review for public comments. Needs to be changed.
  • Also, public comments are only allowed for the current meeting agenda. This needs to be corrected too.
  • The Board initially communicated only 5 people could be there in person. Once the meeting commenced, they let in ~20. A gross miscommunication by the Board.
  • The Board members were escorted into the meeting by several Sheriff’s deputies.
  • No American flag or State flag was present at the presiding of the meeting. There were plenty of BLM and pride flags represented in the room.
  • The Board was not going to open the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Board member Atherton proposed it, but Chairwoman MacKenzie wanted it to be added to the next meeting’s agenda for consideration. The few folks in attendance eventually coaxed the Board to finally recite the Pledge.
  • The Board held a moment of silence for the recognition of being on tribal lands.
  • There was no moment of silence in recognition of the September 11th attacks – the worst terrorist attacks executed on the US mainland in America’s history – with this year being the 20th remembrance of the terrorist attacks.
  • The audio visual for most of the night for those who dialed in was extremely bad. Several parents complained about not hearing what was said and who the speaker was.
  • There were several protestors outside of the school, peacefully protesting the mandates.
  • A school volleyball team wanted to speak at the meeting but were denied by the Board.
  • One of the agenda items was a report by a county employee whose part-time job now, it appears, is to ensure mask compliance on children and adults in the schools. He reported on his findings, and they discussed what the possible violations could be for non-compliance. This was not resolved at the meeting.
  • A nurse reported on the lack of resources and the exhaustive process they must go through to report on and follow through on contract tracing of kids and teachers. She was visibly upset and exhausted! It is clear from her reporting that our schools are not set up to do this nor should they be.
  • After the meeting it was found through several sources that both the Orange County School Board and the Chapel Hill School Board use the same source of medical advisement when it comes to COVID, namely the ABC Science Collaborative, a group that advises to vaccinate all our children and mask up everybody all the time. Even though the Boards both are advised by the same group they have different mandates! Chapel Hill is allowing outdoor sports with no masking and no fan limitations to games where Orange County is not. Orange County is limiting fans and are enforcing masks outside and inside! This does not appear to be science-based nor is it a consistent approach within the county.