NC media outlet touts new "parent activist group"
Article leaves out any real information on "Public Schools Strong"
A Sept. 18 article in the Charlotte Observer (CO) left out a lot of information about its main subject.
The article’s title is "New NC parent activist group wants to focus on real issues — not ‘manufactured’ ones."
An ironic title given the article kicks off by spotlighting Governor Cooper's manufactured education emergency over school choice as a segue into its main subject "Public School Strong," a group that appears to have been manufactured itself as a response to Moms For Liberty and is actually tied to the NC Democratic Party and progressive anti-school choice activist groups.
The CO article gives no real background of Public Schools Strong (PSS) other than to say they wear coordinating t-shirts to school board meetings and it is a “network launched in May with about 30 other teams across the state."
What network? The article really doesn’t say, but More To The Story knows so read on.
The article awkwardly cites the opinion of “Down Home NC” (DHNC), which, to its credit, the CO describes as left-leaning. DHNC is actually a bit more than left-leaning and is affiliated with Blueprint NC, the hub for all left-of-center activist groups in North Carolina.
What the CO article doesn't convey is that DHNC is one of two entities that created PSS, the other is the "Heal Together NC Coalition” or just HEAL NC for short. HEAL stands for “Honest Education Action & Leadership.”
There are additional groups involved, stay with me.
Looking at the DHNC website, we learn PSS was actually launched because of the governor's education "state of emergency” and that these groups have been working together through a “national initiative” since June of this year.
Excerpt from DHNC’s website, emphasis added:
At the end of June this team deepened their commitment to uplifting real needs of students, educators, and our communities by joining forces with H.E.A.L. (Honest Education Action & Leadership) Together, a national initiative from Race Forward that is building a movement of students, educators, and parents in school districts across the United States who believe that an honest, accurate and fully funded public education is the foundation for a just, multiracial democracy.
The NC affiliate, H.E.A.L. Together NC, anchored by the Education Justice Alliance (EJA) and Down Home NC (DHNC), is a working coalition to help align like minded [SIC] groups addressing urgent school board threats.
According to DHNC’s website, “Co-chairs Letha Muhammad (EJA) and Todd Warren (DHNC) welcome collaboration with aligned organizations that are concerned about school board issues across the state.”
Warren was one of the original members of Organize 2020, the racial and social justice protest arm of the N.C. Association of Educators (NCAE).
Muhammad's EJA is another Blueprint NC affiliate that purports to support public education but also recruits children to become social and racial activists.
More To The Story ran down HEAL NC’s roots this past June, tracking them back to Organize 2020.
The NCAE is an affiliate member of the National Education Association, one of the two largest teachers unions in the country.
Organize 2020 sent out emails this past spring about setting up a new coalition called "Honest Education Action & Leadership" or “H.E.A.L." that claimed this is a “national effort" and it was being "supported by the National Education Association (NEA), People’s Action, Dignity in Schools, and many others committed to education justice.”
For those paying attention so far, PSS’ origin is now linked to half a dozen other organizations including a national teachers union.
One of the first few things HEAL NC did was hold "listening" sessions on how to shut down parent complaints at school board meetings. The email for these sessions sent out by Organize 2020 started out by calling parental concerns about their child’s education “manufactured outrage.”
Of note, HEAL NC quotes now-former State Board of Education Member James Ford on the page launching PSS:
The attacks might seem new, but it’s a way for extremists to keep pushing an agenda to end public education that has been going on for a long time. “Where we are is where we’ve been,” says James E. Ford, from CREED NC.
Ford sees the bills at the General Assembly that fund school choice as "white flight."
HEAL NC's focus appears to be stopping school choice of any kind, but in particular, the expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship Program. On that front, HEAL NC cites polling data commissioned by Ford's company, CREED.
More To The Story
The CO article writes about the leader of PSS, a woman named Janice Robinson, as if she were just some random mom or citizen. After even just some cursory digging, that is clearly not the case.
Robinson, per her own website's bio, is a political activist and is the Program Director in North Carolina for "Red, Wine, and Blue," sometimes referred to as the Chardonnay Antifa.
She also does "Campaign Consulting & Community Organizing" through her company JDR Consulting, as well as being an active member of the North Carolina Democratic Party and a Mecklenburg Democrats precinct chair.
Per JDR's website, "Your grassroots influence starts here."
In 2016 with the election of Donald Trump, Janice began a personal crusade to do everything she could to ensure he would not be re-elected for a second term. Janice became Chair of her Precinct in a historically Republican stronghold (Ballantyne), wrote out a strategy with the help of 5 other members, and turned her precinct into a solid “Blue” Democratic stronghold.
After the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, Janice organized a BLM protest in Ballantyne in which 1000+ residents attended. Through her work in Campaign Consulting & Community Organizing, Janice will work to ensure inclusive values and issues have a voice at the political table.
Janice has a BS degree in Business Administration (Management Focus), MS degree in Occupational Therapy. She is the NC Program Director for Red Wine and Blue, serves on the Mecklenburg County Nursing Home Advisory Committee, and is a 2021 Spring Fellow of the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership (IOPL). Janice is a member of the African American Caucus of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party, serves as Chair of Precinct 148 of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party, and is a founding member of Black Women of South Mecklenburg.
In her position at Red, Wine, and Blue, Robinson has also been seen headlining press conferences for the group "Members of the Coalition Against Mark Robinson’s Extremism (CARE)."
Under Robinson’s leadership, what does Red, Wine, and Blue NC say members should do on the education front? Align with two non-profits known for being anti-school choice.
"We work in coalition with Every Child NC and Public Schools First NC to fight back in the Legislature and on the local level. Sign up to be part of our Rapid Response team here,” the Red, Wine, and Blue website says.
The CO article goes on to quote another "just a mom" named Stacy Stagg who also has ties to the NC Democratic Party and has been the party's go-to protest person on the topic of health care.
This is not the first time the CO has portrayed Staggs as "just a mom."
In the article, Charlotte mom testifies before panel weighing Barrett’s nomination to Supreme Court, the author gives next to no details about who Staggs is other than to say she is a "volunteer leader of Little Lobbyists, a non-profit that advocates on behalf of kids with complex medical needs."
So what are the takeaways from this rundown of the CO article?
One, Caveat lector (reader beware), and two, legacy news media reports things a mile wide but an inch deep in a way that more often than not supports one idea, group, or person, over others.