The controversial issue of requiring cameras in classrooms has emerged as a flashpoint in the political race for the top position in North Carolina's public education system.
Republican candidate Michelle Morrow, a conservative activist with a history of making inflammatory comments online, attended the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The conservative activist who attended the event called for cameras to be installed in classrooms as part of a campaign to reach more people. I broadly support so-called parental rights. His Democratic opponent, Moe Green, a former superintendent of the state's third-largest school district, opposes installing the cameras.
The issue is helping to define very different candidates in the race for North Carolina's superintendent of public schools, a position that oversees the state's public schools with a $12 billion budget and 1.4 million students. . About Morrow's past support for conspiracy theories and explosive social media posts.
“We need to have a video surveillance system in place. It's not just going to protect the students, it's going to protect the teachers,” Morrow said on “Real Talk,” a political show focused on law enforcement issues in February.・She spoke in an interview on the podcast. Look at what's happening in the classroom. ”
In a separate interview that same month, she expressed support for video surveillance in public school classrooms as part of a strategy to make schools “the safest buildings in the entire state.”
“We need metal detectors, we need weapons detection systems, we need video surveillance in schools,” she told the Conservative Political Action Committee in a February interview.
In response to a question from NBC News about whether he thought installing cameras in classrooms risked the footage being used by bad actors, Morrow said that installing cameras in classrooms would “deter misbehavior and violence in the classroom.” “It could help prevent anti-Semitism and bullying.” But approving their funding would be up to Congress.
Greene said in an email to NBC News that he strives to make public schools “safe” places where parents can “participate,” but said he doesn't need surveillance cameras to accomplish that goal.
This election is just the latest political battleground over public education. Fueling anger over mandated mask-wearing and other policies during the coronavirus pandemic, Republican officials and candidates at various levels of government across the country are placing increased emphasis on public school classrooms. , pushing for the banning of certain books and education. Critical race theory.
This is part of a broader movement by conservatives calling for “parental rights,” a message that has gained attention in recent years following Republican Glenn Youngkin's surprise victory in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial race. This is part of the promotion.
Some Republican lawmakers have included pushing for mandatory cameras in classrooms as part of their advocacy for parents' rights, which advocates say could in some cases limit what children are being taught. The company claims that parents will have the opportunity to accurately see whether their child is born in real time. Other supporters say the cameras are needed to make schools safer from mass shootings.
Critics say systems that videotape children expose public education to a host of security concerns, including privacy, hacking and child safety concerns. Teachers and teacher advocacy groups have criticized the efforts as aimed at censoring classrooms and intimidating educators who focus on topics such as race and history.
A long history of controversy
Ms. Morrow, a nurse, homeschools her own children and has a well-documented history of making controversial statements about education and many other topics.
She calls for critical race theory and diversity and inclusion initiatives to be removed from public school classrooms. During her superintendent campaign, she pledged to “eradicate progressive indoctrination in schools” and accused public school educators of “teaching children to hate our country” and “transgender theory.” accused of being
Asked if he stands by those comments, Morrow wrote in an email to NBC News: “There's a program in North Carolina that trains teachers to portray America as a racist, colonizing, malevolent force to the world. A dystopian view,” and a North Carolina program that says “preschoolers are male and female.” “Transgender flags are now being flown where the American flag used to be in the hallways of elementary schools.”
Moreau has previously referred to public schools as “socialist centers” and “indoctrination centers,” and said in 2022 that “the whole plan for the education system from the beginning was to actually have some kind of control over the thinking of young people. ” he said. She appealed to parents in North Carolina not to send their children to public schools.
In social media in 2020 postShe said she supported the public execution of former President Barack Obama, saying, “I'd rather see him in front of a firing squad on pay-per-view,'' and “I'd rather have his death televised.'' , you can get some money back.”
In another post later that year, she suggested support for President Joe Biden's murder, responding to his suggestion that people were still being overshadowed by crime. write“Kill all traitors.”
She just recently defended these tweets, which were first reported by CNN. last month.
In other social media posts from 2019 to 2021, Morrow wrote about executing other Democrats for treason, including Hillary Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
She has attacked LGBTQ rights, posted that the U.S. should “ban Islam,” and promoted various QAnon conspiracy theories on social media, including claims that celebrities are harvesting children's blood. I've done it.
Morrow won an upset victory last month in North Carolina's Republican primary for school superintendent, defeating incumbent Katherine Truitt.
Greene, on the other hand, is a lawyer who has previously worked as a public school superintendent and at an education foundation, and is running a fairly traditional Democratic Party campaign centered around increasing state funding for public education. We have developed a movement.
In an email to NBC News, Greene named Morrow as a candidate with “a very dark and extreme view of North Carolina's education system.”
“She has no experience as a public school educator and has little exposure to North Carolina's public schools, so she believes dangerous conspiracy theories about our public education system are completely false,” Greene wrote. . “Public schools are not indoctrination centers that should be monitored, as my opponents claim.”
Conservative momentum for classroom cameras
Morrow was the only Republican to push for cameras in classrooms.
This year alone, Republican lawmakers have introduced bills in at least five states that would install or require cameras in classrooms, either to increase curriculum transparency or improve school safety. School districts in many states have already adopted similar measures in recent years, and a few have enacted laws requiring cameras in special education classrooms. In 2021, a group called the Nevada Family Alliance proposed equipping teachers with body cameras to ensure they are not teaching critical race theory.
On the other hand, public education has emerged as one of the most important issues in the North Carolina gubernatorial election, which is also a battleground in the presidential election, but the fierce battle over the expansion of the school voucher system is mainly based on partisan differences. There is.
Nevertheless, the country's education leaders have singled out Morrow for her positions in front of the cameras, as well as for a number of controversial statements in her past.
“Parents want leaders to focus on reducing class sizes, making schools safe and ensuring students have the resources they need to succeed. Sad. In particular, too many radical politicians these days are focused on banning books and depriving students of learning opportunities,'' said John, president of the National Education Association, the largest educators' union in the United States. Becky Pringle said.
Morrow added that he is “prominent among them in his calls for political violence, calls for spying on schoolchildren, amplification of the QAnon conspiracy theory, and attacks on public schools.”