NC Supreme Court Revives Case After Parents Challenged Woke Insanity, Kids Expelled: AM Update 9/7

(upbeat music) - Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly, happy Labor Day. It's Monday, September 7th, 2026, and this is your AM update. - They wanted to, in secret, turn it into basically a well-conductoration center that went and repudiated everything that the school had ever stood for. - Two children abruptly expelled from their school after their parents questioned its radical new direction. The family now getting another chance to hold the school accountable. Coming up in just a moment on your AM update. - We are still a couple months out, but the midterms are fast approaching and make no mistake. If the house flips, it is a big deal for our economy. That uncertainty is one of the many reasons to consider diversifying with gold, from Birch Gold Group. In the three months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, the price of gold jumped over 12%. Why? Because it's a hedge against uncertainty, of course. If you don't own gold, consider talking to Birch Gold. They're gonna discuss your goals and explain how precious metals can fit into your savings. They can even help you convert an existing IRA or 401K in whole or in part into an IRA in gold for no additional money out of pocket. Just text the letters MK to the number 989898 and get a free infocate and some solid information. The midterms will be here before you know it, don't wait. Text MK to 989898. A North Carolina family gets another chance to seek justice nearly five years after a prestigious private school expelled their two children, allegedly retaliating after the parents challenged its sudden embrace of left-wing ideology. Doug and Nicole Turpin, accusing Charlotte Latin School of abandoning its traditional apolitical approach to education amid the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter in sanity of 2020, then punishing their innocent children when they, as parents, spoke up. The family's lawsuit initially running into a series of legal setbacks. A trial court dismissing eight of the Turpin's nine claims prompting the family to voluntarily drop the remaining claim without prejudice and pursue an appeal. The North Carolina Court of Appeals later upholding those dismissals. The North Carolina Supreme Court last month, reviving parts of the couple's lawsuit, finding they adequately pleaded several claims previously dismissed by lower courts. The five to two ruling not deciding whether the Turpin's allegations are true, but allowing their legal fight to go forward. The family's son and daughter attending Charlotte Latin from the time they were very young until their abrupt expulsion at ages 11 and 13. Charlotte Latin undergoing a leadership change in July, 2019, when Chuck Baldeckey took over as headmaster. Doug Turpin telling AM update that parents began encountering deeply troubling changes the following school year, including material they never imagined their children would see at Charlotte Latin. When the new headmaster came in, Chuck Baldeckey, they decided they wanted to go into a fundamentally different direction without telling anybody. They wanted to, in secret, turn it into basically a well-conductoration center that went and repudiated everything that the school had ever stood for. In our line, it was kind of like education fraud. When we started seeing things like a picture of Jesus with his throat cut and black blood pulling down his shirt with the words God is dead, hung up his artwork in the hallway for the young kids to see, or a picture of a police officer with a pig, basically representing him in a police officer's uniform with all cops or bastards. Or there was a gay sex manual with explicit images all the way through it of how to have gay sex, but in the young children's section of the library. We were all just shocked and horrified. According to the family's complaint, Charlotte Latin declaring itself, quote, an anti-racist academic institution in June 2020 and pledging to make diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, which in fact divide and assign value to children according to a racial hierarchy, foundational to the school's broader long-term direction. Nicole Turpin describing how the school's new direction made a place their family once loved feel increasingly unrecognizable. Charlotte Lanson was the very first school that we ever went to. My whole life was going from our house to Charlotte Latin, you know, volunteering, talking to the teachers. It was just a very nurturing environment that our children grew up in. So this is when the old hadmaster was there, but when the new hadmaster came, everything changed. It just became colder and parents weren't invited in because it was when the pandemic was going on. But up until that point, it was really our second home and we absolutely loved it and had a fantastic experience. The Turpin's far from the only parents alarmed by the school's new direction. Doug saying families were not initially demanding a particular outcome, they were seeking honest answers about what Charlotte Latin intended to teach their children. This was going on with parents all over the place and there was an uproar. All we wanted to do was have dialogue and ask questions about what do you intend to teach our children? What are you doing? How are things changing? So refocus Latin was our parent group and there were dozens and dozens of parents who was growing all the time organically. It just sprung up because we were also concerned and we were being gassed lit. So what we wanted to do was have dialogue and just get a basic question answered. You're changing the fundamental character of this school. How are you planning on doing it? What are you teaching our children? The group refocus Latin eventually requesting an opportunity to present its concerns directly to the school's board. Some parents reportedly warning board chair Denny O'Leary that they feared retaliation against their families. Doug describing how the refocus Latin parents were brought into that meeting on August 24th, 2021 and what he says happened when they asked the school for answers. The board invited us to come into a meeting and explain our concerns. They promised us there'd be no retaliation, wow. And so we did that at their request. We went in there and showed them a presentation that's on the HonourableVal.org website that outlined all of these horrifying things that we were seeing and hearing. And just ask them to tell us, what do you guys intend to do? And they basically said, thank you for sharing. We're not going to answer any of your questions. At the end of the meeting, O'Leary reportedly telling the group neither the board nor administrators would continue the dialogue. Head of school, Chuck Belldecky, later allegedly instructing teachers and staff not to engage with parents about the dispute, telling them to refer any questions directly to him. Less than two weeks after the board meeting, the Terpen's noticing what they believed was a troubling change in the way their sixth grade son was being treated in one of his classes. Nicole and Doug on what their son and 11-year-old boy began telling them at home. It's issues that he wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom when he would ask or he wasn't allowed to drink water. It just sounded very targeted. And also, he came home one day and said that all Republicans are white supremacists. And I just thought of the blue. And I'm like, Logan, what do you mean? I mean, this is what he's hearing from the teacher in the school. So I was really shocked. You said that? Is there something wrong with me because I'm white? And I was like, why are you saying this? And he started talking about how this teacher was making him feel that there was something fundamentally wrong with him because he was white and that we were bad and that a few Republicans, are you white supremacists? Can you hear your son being tortured essentially? It felt like dust. It's like, gosh, this is awful. The parents taking their concerns to head of the middle school, Todd Ballaban, requesting that their son be moved to a different class. Ballaban initially saying he would need a day or two to investigate. Then reportedly emailing Doug roughly one hour later that he had already examined the matter, quote, in depth. Ballaban and the head of school scheduling an in-person meeting with Doug for September 10th, which Doug believed would address his concerns about the classroom. So I went into that meeting thinking, well, I'm going to have a conversation with him about what my son's concerns are. That's what they said to do in the parent-school contract and that's what we were always told to do. And I didn't know it was a secret expulsion meeting that the headmaster was going to pull out our kids' enrollment agreement, wave it in my face, and tell me that we were plotting against the school and that he was expelling our two kids this day, that instant. Neither child was accused of doing anything wrong. The Turpin's 11-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter reportedly given only hours to clean out their lockers and leave the school they had attended nearly their entire lives. Nicole describing the toll the sudden upheaval took on both kids. I can remember that morning like it was just today. Doug called me and he said, "Deckey, you need to come down to the school right now. Our children have been expelled and we need to get them immediately." So of course I'm in complete shock. Our children were being asked to empty their lockers without any explanation and they were led outside by a security guard who didn't speak to them and they were just standing there with the will of looks on their faces while we drove up. They get in the car and they spent the hallway home going, "Mom, what's going on? I mean, have we done something wrong? We've done something wrong and we had to tell them when we got home that the only school they'd ever known, they were not welcome back into it. They were not allowed back into it and all we could do was watch them break down sobbing and we were just helpless." The Turpin's insisting they followed the school's own process raised their concerns civilly and relied on an explicit promise that speaking up would not be used against their children. The family filing a lawsuit in 2022 determined to clear their own name and to hold the school accountable. "It was important to go ahead and send a message to the schools that your contracts and your representations and your promises mean something. You can't just expel parents just because they're asking questions. If you can then think about what that would mean. If somebody is using a child or arming a child or just mistreating them, if a parent has to worry that they're going to have their children expel just because they want to ask the school about that or ask them a question about what they're being taught or raise any kind of concern. We felt like it was important to take a stand. We're fortunate enough to be able to do it and if we succeeded that this would deter other schools from believing this way." The case suffering years of legal setbacks before last month's major reversal. Coming up, why this family's legal fight could protect other parents from seeing their children punished when parents speak up. And what happens next in the Turpin's case. Imagine this. 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Order online in minutes and it's shipped right to your door and save 45 bucks with my promo code [email protected]/mk. That's urgentcarekit.com/mk, promo code mk. Urgentcarekit.com/mk. For nearly five years, dug into cold turp and fighting to get their case against Charlotte Latin school into a courtroom. Lower courts dismissing most of their claims, finding the turpans did not properly state claims upon which relief could be granted. The North Carolina Supreme Court now ruling five to two that those courts wrongly decided the case on several of the claims. The majority finding the turpans did provide enough information for Charlotte Latin to understand the accusations against it, allowing several of the family's causes of action to move forward. The ruling not deciding who is right on the merits but finally giving the turpans an opportunity to prove their case. The turpans attorney, Jonathan Vogel, telling AM update the family can now pursue three central allegations. First, that Charlotte Latin breached its enrollment contract by expelling the children for a reason the agreement did not permit. Second, that school leaders deceived the parents by promising they could raise concerns without retaliation, then allegedly disguising an expulsion meeting as a discussion about their son. The court also allowing the turpans to pursue claims that school officials defamed them during and after the expulsions. The breach of contract fight centering on Charlotte Latin's claim that its relationship with the family had become impossible. The turpans arguing that explanation was merely a pretext for retaliation. Vogel explaining why he believes the school's own actions undermine its stated reason for expelling the children. If the expulsions were really because Charlotte and believed that the relationship with the turpans was impossible, really, you know, sending an email or two expressing concerns and asking questions about curriculum and culture, being part of a group that upon invitations from the Board of Trustees made a presentation about their questions and concerns. If that really was enough to make the relationship impossible, then the school would have expelled all the children of the parents who were involved in making that presentation and they would have expelled all the children of the parents over the years that have expressed concerns or have asked questions of the teacher about the curriculum or anything else in the school. Vogel telling us the family can now begin investigating what was happening behind the scenes. We think, frankly, now that we're back in the child court, we're going to be able to take discovery and get internal documents such as emails, text messages, calendar entries, and take-up positions to obtain direct evidence and potential smoking guns of the protection reasons. Vogel explaining where the case goes from here. What happens next is the Supreme Court's decision and mandate makes its way down to the child court via the court of appeals and at the child court, we begin again. This case had hardly started. At the time that it was dismissed by the child court four years ago. We are ready to really get into this case and get into the process of discovery, which enables us to ask questions of the defendants and obtain internal documents and take the deposition, sworn deposition of all of these people and I'm talking about the head of school, Chuck Valdecki, I'm talking about the head of the middle school, Todd Baleban, the 20-some-odd members of the Board of Trustees and get at the information and get at the facts that they've been keeping from us for the last four years while we've been up in the appellate courts. Charlotte Latin arguing before the North Carolina Supreme Court that a turpen victory could weaken the independence private schools need to provide the quality of education expected by families. The school warning, it could also invite lawsuits whenever administrators decide their relationship with a family is no longer workable. Vogel rejecting that characterization. This lawsuit was never about and is still not about dictating what a private school must do with respect to its curriculum and culture. There is no legal claim that challenges their curriculum or that challenges their culture as concerning, let's say it was, with the artwork and the books and the various gender ideology things and lessons as concerning as that is there are no legal claims challenging that. If a private school wants to teach that way and wants to have that kind of artwork, that's their choice to do. Nothing challenges the autonomy of the school. Instead, the only claims in this case relate to how the school acted with respect to the parents and the children in ignoring the provisions of its own contract, honoring its own contract with its parents and treating its parents with respect. The turpents who now have their children at other schools tell us what this ruling means to them and what comes next. It just means so much it's five years in a lot of time and money there and we were determined to be able to protect and do our part to protect the families here at North Carolina and strike a blow against this type of mentality that these private schools have that they can just basically expel your children for any reason at any time if they just want to. All their enforcing ideological conformity and secret. We felt this put kids in danger scenarios where if their families couldn't even ask about what was going on and what might happen. It was another kind of of the victory for us to be able to say, "Hey people, speak up." We reached out to Charlotte Latin, its current head of school, Chuck Bell Deke, its former middle school head. Todd Baleban and former board chair Denny O'Leary for comment and did not receive any response. And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for a brand new MK show today on Labor Day with Andrew Huberman live on Series 6M's The Megan Kelly Channel 111 at New East on youtube.com/megankelly and don't all podcast platforms.