The Burke County Board of Education was hit with the threat of legal action Monday if it did not remove a list of two dozen books characterized as “pornographic” from all Burke County Public school media centers within 30 days.
“We’re going to give you 30 days to do something about it,” said Ron Baity, president of Return America Inc., during a heated public comment period at Monday night’s school board meeting. “In 30 days, if the ‘pornography’ in the Burke County school system is not removed, we will begin proceedings to make Burke County a test case for the state of North Carolina.”
Baity was the last of six speakers to address the issue. The first, Burke County resident Diane Register, asked the board to leave the books in the media centers. From there, however, a group of five presenters, all opposing the 24 titles, spoke to a growing chorus of “amen” and “that’s right” from supporters. After nearly 30 minutes, the public comment period culminated with Baity’s ultimatum.
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Board Chair Wendi Craven said she was “appalled” by the Winston-Salem pastor’s actions Monday evening.
“For him to show up at our board meeting and make threats to us and give us timelines without knowing the history of why we wrote the policy (and) the input that we took,” she said. “To come to Burke County and make the statements he did — I was appalled.”
Despite Baity’s demands, Superintendent Mike Swan said BCPS would continue operating according to the new media policy the board adopted last year.
“We’re definitely going to continue with the policy,” he said. “Right now, I’m working with a team — Dr. Honeycut, myself and some other media coordinators — to review that list.”
However, Swan does not believe it is logistically feasible for administrators to properly evaluate and remove a large number of books in a short period of time.
If the books are not gone by May 17, though, BCPS may be in for a fight. In May 2020, Baity and Return America spearheaded a lawsuit against Gov. Roy Cooper seeking to exempt churches from an executive order limiting indoor gatherings to 10 participants. A federal judge sided with the group, granting a stay on the order.
It was a victory Baity made sure to call the board’s attention to on Monday.
“If you think I’m bluffing, we sued the governor of this state two years ago when he closed the churches in this state down and we won,” he said.
However, Swan is not so sure Baity will have similar success in this case.
“Churches and schools are completely different entities,” Swan said.
He added that he is not even sure if Baity will even be able to bring legal action against the district since he is not a BCPS stakeholder.
Regardless of whether Baity will be able to make good on the ultimatum, Swan said, as a public school district, BCPS has a responsibility to make sure all students are represented.
“We teach all diverse learners in Burke County Public Schools,” he said.
“We can’t pick and choose who we love,” Craven added.
Opposition to representation of certain perspectives on gender and sexuality did seem to be a factor in at least some of the presentations the board heard Monday evening.
“We’ve got kids graduating right now, I mean, they can’t even fill out a job application,” said the Rev. Gene Gouge, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church. “But they know all about condoms … they know all about boys with boys, men with men and women with women right on down the line even to bestiality.”
Other speakers took issue with the policy’s assertion that “professional educators” are best able to determine which books are available.
“The term professional educator, which is being tossed around quite a bit, sounds as though we have people who think they know better than parents,” said Laura Wycoff. “Well, that just makes the mama bear in me come out. Please don’t insult me by saying that a professional educator knows better for my child than me.”
A statement from Swan said the district has gone to great lengths to consider input from parents on the issue.
“In order to respect the rights and decisions of parents and guardians regarding supplemental materials, Burke County Public Schools has a policy in place that allows for the challenging of such reading materials by parents and guardians,” the statement reads. “Additionally, we encourage parents to let us know if they personally do not want their child to read any certain books. Parents have access to the media selection for their child’s school … Parents can reach out to school media coordinators for more information or questions related to the school’s media collection.”
The statement also said administrators will be placing stickers on books recommended for ages 14 and older and providing extra training for media coordinators.
“(They) will receive training on how to manage student book choices and ensure that parents have input on the kinds of books that are checked out by their student,” the statement reads.
But that’s not enough for Gouge.
“I am not asking these books to be put up on a shelf out of reach,” he said. “I want these books gone.”
Other business
BCPS Finance Officer Keith Lawson presented the board with the local budget request to the Burke County Board of Commissioners. Burke County plans to ask the county for $17,273,041 for the 2023-24 school year. This is an increase of $970,033 or a little more than 6% over last year’s amount.
Swan said he and Lawson have another meeting with County Manager Brian Epley on Thursday. Swan anticipates the final amount of the request could change as a result of that meeting.
The board also unanimously approved a resolution opposing H.B. 219 which would narrow the scope of funding sources local districts could withhold from charter schools. Lawson told the board, if enacted the bill would unfairly impact the district by requiring it to share fees, grants and other funding sources with charter schools. Charter schools would not have to share the fees they collect with public schools under the proposed bill.
Swan estimated H.B. 219 could cost the district as much as $300,000 next year if enacted.
Also during the meeting, the board recognized the district’s MathCounts winners:
- First-place winner — Dalton Isenhour of Ray Childers Elementary
- Runner-up — Altair Ramirez of Drexel Elementary
- First-place team — Ray Childers Elementary
The board also recognized Andrea Gladden for winning the Burroughs Welcome Fund Career Award for STEM teachers, the teachers of the year for each school and districtwide teacher of the year, Amber Peterson of WA Young Elementary.
