Catherine Truitt

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If culturally responsive teaching is promulgated in North Carolina's public schools, students will learn that math is racist.  Students who are Black, LGBTQ or of minority ethnic backgrounds will be taught that teachers are bigots.  And educators will be allowed to engage in "age-inappropriate promotion" of homosexuality.

The recent rise in social justice activism and the national debate over "critical race theory" have struck a nerve in Surry County, a Republican stronghold in the northwestern foothills of North Carolina. Members of the county's board of commissioners are outraged that America is undergoing what many others say is a long overdue racial reckoning, much of it brought on by police shootings of unarmed Black citizens.

Truitt will have to rebuild trust with the state board, whose relationship with her predecessor was combative. Education in North Carolina has become “highly politicized” to the detriment of student achievement, says State Superintendent-elect Catherine Truitt.

Democrat Roy Cooper was reelected governor Tuesday, fighting back a challenge from Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest who made Cooper’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic a centerpiece of his campaign.  In the end, voters rewarded Cooper’s steady leadership during the ongoing crisis while rejecting Forest’s call for a quicker reopening of businesses and schools.