Trump says Syria will be removed from terror list

North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction plans to issue guidance to school districts on implementing a new state law that bans diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in educational settings, state Superintendent Maurice Green said Thursday.

Speaking at a State Board of Education meeting, Green said educators were likely to have questions about how to comply with Senate Bill 227, which became law last month after state lawmakers overrode Gov. Josh Stein’s veto.

“I think there are going to be genuine questions about how educators are to apply the law,” Green said.

Thursday’s meeting was the State Board’s first since the veto override.

Green said one section of the law restricts instruction on certain concepts, while another explicitly preserves the teaching of difficult history, including the historical oppression of people based on race, ethnicity, and religion.

“We are grappling with the law and are likely to try to put out some guidance to public school unit leaders as we try to figure out how to be sure that this law is appropriately implemented,” Green said.

The law prohibits public school units from engaging in or advocating for what it defines as discriminatory practices or divisive concepts. It also bars school districts from maintaining offices identified as “diversity, equity and inclusion offices” or assigning duties to employees that include promoting those concepts.

It also prohibits the State Board of Education from approving, providing, recommending, or requiring professional development on what it defines as discriminatory practices or divisive concepts.

Republican lawmakers who wrote the bill said it was needed because they believed schools were “indoctrinating” children with “woke” concepts, a claim the Trump administration has also made.

In a statement issued after lawmakers overrode Stein’s veto last month, North Carolina Association of Educators President Tamika Walker Kelly said the law undermined efforts to make public schools welcoming for all students.

“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion aren’t political talking points; they are the foundation of schools that are safe, welcoming, and strong for every child that steps through the schoolhouse door,” Kelly said.

Beginning Sept. 1, school districts, charter schools, and other public school units must certify annually to the Department of Public Instruction that they are complying with the law. The department must then submit a report to the General Assembly by Jan. 15 summarizing those certifications.

Scattered showers brought some relief to central North Carolina this week, but much of the state remained in drought, according to Thursday’s U.S. Drought Monitor report.

The report said 43.6% of North Carolina was in extreme drought, up 8 percentage points from last week. Another 6% was in exceptional drought, the monitor’s most severe category.

In Wake County, localized rainfall raised Falls Lake, Raleigh’s main drinking water source, by 6 inches in the past week. Still, the Raleigh City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance allowing the city manager to move quickly to Stage 2 water restrictions if needed.

The city has urged conservation since restrictions were imposed in April. But Ed Buchan of Raleigh Water told the council that water use had increased during June’s heat and dry weather.

Buchan said 46% of irrigation meters read during the first week of July were not in compliance, largely from residential use. He said Raleigh’s best-case goal was to stay below 60 million gallons a day, but daily use topped 76 million gallons on a hot day in June when irrigation demand was high.