Can Michele Morrow Do the Job?

Michele Morrow is certainly a controversial figure to be running for State Superintendent of Public Instruction in North Carolina.  She has made many controversial videos, made many controversial statements in public forums, and also made some controversial tweets.  But those things have been covered extensively in the media, and I will not waste more time writing about them here. Just Google "Michele Morrow, NC, controversial" and you will find them. Well worth a detour from this post.

Instead, let’s talk about Michele Morrow’s relevant experience for a job leading the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) with a budget of $11 billion dollars serving 1.3 million children in NC. 

Here is her current website. This one supplanted another one that was live a week or so ago and had more specific policy information: https://www.morrow4nc.com/

Michele Morrow has a bachelor’s degree in nursing from UNC Chapel Hill.  She homeschooled all five of her children, and taught several subjects to high school students in homeschool co-ops.  She has no formal education in teaching.  Her children never attended public schools in North Carolina, and there is no record of her ever volunteering or working in a public school in the state.  You can read about her full resume here, including some details not available on her website: https://www.ednc.org/03-06-2024-michele-morrow-a-lifelong-christian-conservative-is-the-republican-candidate-for-north-carolina-state-superintendent-of-public-instruction/

The public education infrastructure in North Carolina is very complicated.  It is a combination of several different funding sources, federal, state and local laws, and federal, state and local regulation.  I know a bit about this because I helped start a NC charter school that opened in 2003.  It was mind-blowing to consider all the things we had to know to get that one little school (currently about 600 students) off the ground.  We needed a group of several people with serious skills, our school attorney and folks at DPI on speed dial, and a year of planning to open.  Even then, it took several more years before we were operating smoothly.  I am not going to argue one way or the other about whether that complexity of the education system is good or bad.  The bottom line is that it exists and is not likely to change during Morrow’s time in office, no matter how many “audits” she does. Most education bureaucracy starts with legislation.  Legislation requires compliance and compliance requires people to follow through with the laws and regulations..  

To illustrate why I think she is totally unqualified to run DPI, I am going to focus on one specific area that she will have to be knowledgeable in – Exceptional Children (commonly called Special Education), or EC for short.

** A note here:  When I use the term “public school” I am referring to all the traditional public schools as well as the 115 charter schools in North Carolina.  Charter schools are public schools, and are subject to all of the laws covering exceptional children in the state.**

Morrow states that she has a child with disabilities whose needs were not being met in public school, and that is the reason she decided to homeschool her children. https://www.morrow4nc.com/meet-michele  I also have two children who were served through EC (they are adults now), and a granddaughter who will start EC services this year.  As a school counselor and counselor in private practice I worked with children with disabilities and sat in many IEP meetings.  The Exceptional Children program in NC is near and dear to my heart.  I have seen it provide vital support for children to learn, including my own. It also provides support to classroom teachers who teach children with disabilities.  This is very important, because there are EC kids in just about every classroom in public schools in NC.  

Before we look at what Morrow and said about EC, let me give you some brief background information.  EC is governed by a federal law known as IDEA.  It was originally passed in 1975 with bi-partisan support and was signed into law by President Ford.  At that time, it was called EHA.  It was reauthorized in 1990, and renamed IDEA. https://sites.ed.gov/idea/IDEA-History  All 50 states and Puerto Rico must follow IDEA.  Each state has some latitude with implementation, but they must follow the law as it is written.  State law in North Carolina reiterates that fact and provides some detailed guidance to NC schools on how to accomplish it.  https://sites.ed.gov/idea/IDEA-History  These are laws that the Superintendent and DPI cannot change without a change in federal or state law.   (NC EC Laws here: https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByArticle/Chapter_115c/Article_9.html ). 

So what has Michele Morrow said about EC in North Carolina Schools?  What does she propose?

Well, for starters, she has not differentiated at all with regard to the types of disabilities children can have that qualify.  She has talked about children who she terms “mentally retarded” (video below), but not mentioned any other type of disability.  IDEA recognizes 13 different types of disability categories for services under EC, including Academically Gifted.  https://www.wcpss.net/Page/4410 .  This becomes important because of one of her policy statements, that children with disabilities “particularly at the youngest grade levels, should be taught certain subjects, such as math and reading, separately from their peers. She also said “gifted and talented” students should be taught separately. During a candidate forum, Morrow said she believes in “healthy competition” and said that was not possible when educating special education students and non-special education students together. “Those special education students are never going to be able to compete with those gifted and talented students.”   https://www.wral.com/story/in-cary-opposites-face-off-for-district-9-s-seat-on-the-wake-county-school-board/20530056/  Now these were statements she made during her unsuccessful bid to be a board member for the Wake County Public Schools.  Perhaps she has changed her position, but I could not find that anywhere.

Why is this a problem? Well aside from the fact that it's atrocious educational practice, it’s against federal law.  IDEA clearly states that children with disabilities need to be placed in “the least restrictive environment”. https://www.understood.org/en/articles/least-restrictive-environment-lre-what-you-need-to-know   The vast majority of children who receive services under IDEA perform just fine in the regular classroom environment.  (As my children did – both with higher than average intelligence)  And guess what else?  Most often those children are ALREADY receiving additional services to help them with reading and math through their IEP (Individual Education Plan).  Some children do indeed need a separate environment, (about 10% of those being served) either partially (perhaps they have art, PE and music with their peers), or totally.  The IEP team comprised of EC staff, teachers, sometimes administration, school counselor and parents, make that decision for the individual child.  DPI cannot, as we saw above, make a blanket decision regarding separate settings for children with disabilities.

In the following video, where Morrow refers to EC children as “mentally retarded”, she also talks about what those separate classrooms should be teaching: https://youtu.be/kkr01RSO3mw?si=-IiLxH8vhWaWoNIK  So here’s the thing about that.  The students that I mentioned above, the ones in a partially separate or fully separate setting?  They are already getting what she describes in the video.  In elementary school it may be called a Self-Contained or Cross Categorical Classroom.  In high school it is called the Occupational Course of Study.  These programs are designed for many different disabilities and have a low teacher to student ratio.  Students are still taught from The Standard Course of Study to their highest ability level and are taught life skills and employment skills.

One final thing.  Morrow also advocates rejecting federal education funding.  (As does Mark Robinson) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA6SxrxhKTA  IDEA has a $1.1 billion dollar budget in NC, with $357 million coming from the federal government.  If Morrow were to reject that federal funding, NC would have to fully finance IDEA.  They cannot stop implementing the law. 

Are you bored yet?

Well I’m not surprised.  This is more than anyone outside of education should need to know.  It’s not YOUR job to keep up on all of this, but it will be HERS.  When she gets statewide EC data and statistics, she needs to be able to read them, interpret them, and answer questions so she can make statewide decisions.  Such as, “Is MTSS helping schools do a better job of properly identifying potential EC students?”  “Are certain groups of students or certain disabilities being over identified?  Under identified?’  Again, ED speak which she will need to understand and make decisions about.

And EC is only one part of the job! She doesn’t have the background to do this, folks.  Not. At. All.  So, if you think you might vote for her based on what she says about “student indoctrination”, “porn in libraries”, or other culture things she is hot to tackle, keep in mind two things:  she has NEVER been in a North Carolina Public School to the extent that she has any idea about what is going on.  Most importantly, ask yourself, does she have the ability to actually help children in North Carolina learn what they need to know?  Isn’t that the most important job of the leader of DPI?

Please, for the sake of 1.3 million children in North Carolina and $11 billion dollars of YOUR tax money, vote for Mo Greene.  

https://www.mogreenfornc.com

Election Fraud in North Carolina - What I Know

  

In response to all of the noise about election fraud, I decided to write about it. I have worked at the polls since 2016. It is work that I enjoy, am proud of, and take very seriously.  Free and fair elections are the essence of our democracy.

 

Imagine my disappointment, then, when claims of election fraud started up again this election cycle. The latest claim is that Democrats are importing thousands of illegal immigrants and registering them to vote illegally, and/or election officials are allowing illegal immigrants to vote.  Former President Trump repeated that claim on the debate stage as a matter of fact.

 

Now I will say that if you already convinced that widespread fraud in going to happen here in North Carolina, and you will not be convinced otherwise, you can stop reading now.  If you are confident in the integrity of the election system here, you can read on if you want.  For those of you who are not sure, I hope you will read this.  It’s a bit long, but I think it’s worth your time.  I’ve added fact-check citations throughout this article.

 

Here are a few points:

 

1.      Illegal immigrants cannot vote in any statewide or national election anywhere in the United States.  https://www.usa.gov/who-can-vote  Attempting to vote without being a citizen is a Class 1 felony.  Some municipalities allow all adults to register and vote in local elections, but there are none in NC.  In NC you are asked to provide either a driver’s license or a SSN to register.  NCBOE requires that SSN or driver’s license number to be verified.  NC State Law states that you need to indicate when you register if you do not have either ID.  Folks at the Wake County BOE told me those types of registrations are verified as well.  You also need to prove residency in North Carolina for the prior 30 days, so folks cannot come into NC at the last minute and register to vote. https://www.ncsbe.gov/registering/who-can-register  If you are not a citizen of the United States, you cannot obtain a SSN. https://www.ssa.gov/people/immigrants/   In order to get a driver’s license in NC, you have to prove (with documentation) that you are either a US Citizen (I had to present my Social Security Card when I got a REAL ID), or that you are a LEGAL immigrant.  Again those drivers licenses are verified if the person registers to vote. (County Election Official)

2.     The entire elections system in NC is bipartisan.  (Confirmed with County Election Official), from the State BOE, through the county BOE’s right down to precincts.  Indeed, the usual folks that work at my precinct come from both parties.  In order for widespread fraud to occur, one party would have to do it under the watchful eye of the other.  The State BOE actually has this system-wide bipartisanship as a goal to prevent fraud from actually occurring and to increase voter confidence.  (As per County Election Official)

3.     In order for widespread fraud to occur with regard to illegal immigrants registering and voting, a LOT of people would need to be in on the con. There are many hundreds of election officials across the state.  The county boards for all 100 counties in NC are separate entities.  The amount of people needed to fraudulently register immigrants in numbers to affect a statewide election would take coordination between individuals in multiple counties.  Each individual county is responsible for registering its own residents.

4.     The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank (and the authors of Project 2025) has kept track of voter fraud since 1980.  In 2023 they counted a few more than 1400 cases of voter fraud in their database.  https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/commentary/election-fraud-database-tops-1400-cases  That was data that included every voter in every election since 1980, and it includes 2020, when widespread fraud was alleged to have occurred.  https://www.heritage.org/voterfraud/search?combine=&state=All&year=2020&case_type=All&fraud_type=All  Indeed, we did have an occurrence of voter fraud in NC that threw an election in the 9^th Congressional District in 2016.  Several Bladen County Republican supporters of a Republican Congressional candidate (who was not implicated) engaged in an absentee ballot harvesting scheme.  All of the participants were charged and convicted.  The election was redone. The scheme was actually discovered by the Bladen County BOE.  None of the people implicated were election workers. https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/2022/10/01/four-plead-guilty-to-committing-election-fraud-in-nc-in-2016-and-2018/69530605007/

 

So that’s what I have.  Make up your own mind. If you live in another state, I would encourage you to look things up yourself so you know how registration works in your state.  It’s a little too late for this election, but I would also suggest that you volunteer at the polls. It’s one day of training and the day at the polls, and you get paid a little something.

 

Thanks for reading!