NC state superintendent responds to ‘claims about wokeism’ and fired teacher lawsuit

North Carolina’s top education official sent a letter to state lawmakers over the holidays pushing back on a lawsuit from a teacher claiming he was fired for criticizing Critical Race Theory.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt wrote that the news coverage of “claims about wokeism” at the North Carolina Governor’s School and the instructor’s complaint “gave me great pause and concern.”

The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of “woke” is to be “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues, especially issues of racial and social justice.” Started as African-American vernacular, it eventually became a catchall criticism used by some conservatives of progressive policies that are connected to race, social justice, equity and equality issues.

The News & Observer reported in December that David Phillips contended, in a lawsuit filed in Wake County Superior Court, that he was fired from the North Carolina Governor’s School in 2021 after complaints about seminars he conducted that criticized Critical Race Theory.

The Governor’s School, which has two campuses in Raleigh and Winston-Salem, is a four-week summer residential program for gifted and talented high school students. Phillips’ lawsuit was filed on his behalf by conservative legal advocacy organization Alliance Defending Freedom against defendants including the state Department of Public Instruction, which runs the school, and current and former DPI and school employees.

In Truitt’s letter, the Republican superintendent described changes she made in oversight of the Governor’s School in 2021 and 2022.

“We now have major safeguards in place that protect the students and faculty from any woke/inappropriate materials finding their way into the curriculum,” she wrote. “We also now have a process for hiring that creates very clear job descriptions and clear playbooks for instructors about what can be taught. These expectations require instructors’ lessons to be approved, which didn’t necessarily take place before.”

Truitt, advocacy group at odds on Phillips

Truitt said she hadn’t heard of Phillips’ situation because she rarely gets involved with human resources matters, particularly for employees hired for limited periods of time. While never naming Phillips directly in her letter, she said he did not reach out to her with a complaint. However she recently reviewed human resources files and other documents about him and said the teacher was dismissed for “their conduct, not their content.”

“We have instructors who sit in various places along the political spectrum, as it should be. Nobody would be let go from their position if they were genuinely providing a learning environment that was engaging and open. That is not what this former temporary employee did,” Truitt wrote.

“Instead, as the facts will show, this person made students very uncomfortable, belittled them, used racial slurs, and even brought some students to tears, all without allowing for any discussion or open dialogue as required by NC DPI. That is not what we should expect of any person in authority, particularly someone teaching inside a classroom.”

Truitt went on to praise the Governor’s School leadership and human resources for acting decisively. She told lawmakers, who are allowed to read the same HR files, to read them for themselves if they want to. The Department of Public Instruction is drafting its answer to the complaint and will file it in court, she said, and “will rebut all the allegations in the lawsuit.”

This week, Alliance Defending Freedom said Truitt’s letter “completely misses the mark.”

“False allegations aside, Dr. Phillips was fired after simply presenting an alternative perspective during optional seminars, something the Governor’s School claims to promote,” Hal Frampton, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, wrote in an emailed statement to The N&O.

“For example, in his final optional seminar, Dr. Phillips presented a critique of ideological bias in higher education. The superintendent’s letter even states that ‘we should welcome all types of thoughts and perspectives inside the sessions,’ but that is not what happened when Dr. Phillips attempted to provide intellectual diversity on campus.”

“Dr. Phillips was a well-respected teacher at the Governor’s School for many years. His evaluations prove this and speak eloquently of the welcoming and engaging classroom environment he provided for all students. We look forward to getting justice for Dr. Phillips in court,” Frampton said.

Critical Race Theory and state law

CRT has been a hot-button issue in education the past few years in the General Assembly, where the Republican-majority chambers passed a bill in 2021 that would regulate how race is taught in K-12 schools. Though the bill never cited Critical Race Theory, it was referred to as an anti-Critical Race Theory bill by opponents of CRT. Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has also led the charge on the issue. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bill, saying it pushed “calculated, conspiracy-laden politics.”

Speaker Tim Moore, who leads the House, and Senate leader Phil Berger have said they are likely to revisit the issue in the 2023 legislative session. The House has a larger Republican majority and the Senate has a Republican supermajority after the 2022 elections.

Cooper said in a December interview with The N&O that he will be “fighting to stop business-killing culture war legislation.”

Reporter T. Keung Hui contributed to this story.