Wake NCAE 'Back together' event features candidates, Gender Sexuality Educator Alliance

The Wake NCAE event is today, Sept. 17 from 3-5 pm at Lake Wheeler Park

The Wake County chapter of the N.C. Association of Educators (NCAE) is holding a “Back together” event today from 3-5 pm at Lake Wheeler Park in southern Wake County.

According to the Google document link accompanying the flier, there will be “tables with information about our Government Relations work, Gender Sexuality Educator Alliance, and other member engagement opportunities!”

There is a national “Gender Sexuality Educator Alliance,” however, this one appears to be made up just of Wake County Public School teachers that apparently even has its own taxpayer-funded official district assigned email address: gsea@wcpss.net.

The RSVP document also says “You'll have the opportunity to meet our organizing staff and mix & mingle with our endorsed candidates.”

Other posts referencing the event included the official candidate endorsements made by the Wake NCAE - all of which are Democrats.

More To The Story

Wake NCAE has had a change in leadership in the last year with Long-time president Kristin Beller being replaced by the organization’s former vice president, Christina Spears.

Spears is a staffer in the district’s Office of Equity Affairs (OEA) and was the lead organizer of two “Edcamp Equity” events focusing on “whiteness in Ed spaces,” “microaggressions at work,” and forming “Affinity Groups. The events were held on district school property grounds.

My past reporting on EdCamp Equity kicked off Christopher Rufo’s ongoing investigative series on Critical Race Theory in K-12 schools.

In addition to working for Wake County schools’ OEA, Spears has also been involved in co-founding and running a Diversity Equity and Inclusion outfit called “RISE DEI.”

The other co-founder is Lauryn Mascarenaz, a former Southern Poverty Law Center employee and Wake County OEA staffer who departed the district in the fall of 2021.

RISE DEI offers Critical Race Theory-embedded training and describes itself as “an anti-racist consulting + teaching group impacting + evolving justice + freedom to change ourselves + systems.”

Both the Wake NCAE and the OEA have promoted the controversial political movement, Black Lives Matter (BLM). The Wake NCAE’s website still contains a dedicated page for BLM, whereas the OEA’s BLM website launched during the George Floyd riots of 2020 has since been dismantled.