The 2024 elections promise a wide assortment of rightwing radicals. Teacher Justin Parmenter points to one of the worst, running for head of North Carolina schools– Michele Morrow.
As a 30-year veteran teacher, I can tell you that there are a couple of qualities that are imperative for leadership in education. One is wisdom gained through experience, and the other is an observable pattern of integrity and respect for others.
Morrow’s candidacy for the top education post in North Carolina scores an “F” on both counts.
Michele Morrow has never held a leadership position in education, let alone worked in North Carolina schools. Her children have never attended our schools because she chooses to homeschool them. Morrow has regularly branded the North Carolina public schools she now wants to lead as “indoctrination centers” and urged others to avoid them just as her family has.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with homeschooling, this choice does mean that she has zero actual insight into our public schools. Rather, her understanding of North Carolina education has been filtered through radical groups such as Education First Alliance and Moms for Liberty, whose whole reason for existence is to drum up hostility toward public education anywhere it may be found. This blank resume should not inspire confidence in voters that Morrow would have the capacity to be an effective leader at North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction.
The current leader at the Department of Public Instruction, Superintendent Catherine Truitt, is also not confident that Morrow is up for the task.
In an interview with Education Week, Truitt said, “In the few opportunities that I was actually sharing space with her in a panel or debate, I was shocked by her complete lack of understanding of how public schools function and what the job of state superintendent is.”
Michele Morrow herself acknowledges on her Ballotpedia campaign survey that integrity and honesty are principles most important for an elected official. Her survey responses for her failed 2022 Wake County school board campaign indicated that respect and kindness are essential elements of good teaching.
If Michele Morrow is all about honesty and integrity, why did she delete her Twitter account shortly after winning the March primary?
The answer is that her account included some truly alarming posts. Parmenter shows what he’s talking about in the full piece.
