South Winston Salem News

Richard Fosman, the Davidson County Chapter Chair of the Moms for Liberty, said that the Davidson County School Board is sending a "very powerful message to parents" in their treatment of the McGhee family after their son was suspended for using the term "illegal alien."

"The problem is these School Board members operate with total impunity because even if and when the McGhee family wins their lawsuit, it is the tax payers that have funded the School District's legal defense, and it will be the taxpayers who fund the any monetary judgement," Fosman told East Lake Norman News. "So, no matter what happens, the School District wins, because even by losing the case, they have sent a very powerful message to parents because the next McGhee family will not be willing to go through the hell that the School District has put this McGhee family through."

"Their roles should be well understood --  the School Administrators are in charge of teaching the children a lesson, and the School Board is in charge of teaching the adults a lesson," said Fosman. "We are all in training for what is to come in this country, if we don't take back our education system.    

According to the Liberty Justice Center, 16-year-old Christian McGhee was suspended for asking a teacher if her use of the word "alien" referred to “space aliens, or illegal aliens who need green cards?” The school suspended Christian for three days with the administration "equating his question to a vicious racial slur." He was also barred from participating in a track meet and not permitted to appeal the punishment. 

The family subsequently sued over the punishment, and stated that it could hinder his college prospects as the punishment remains on his record. After returning to class, Christian experienced bullying and after concerns for his safety, his parents unenrolled him from the school and he is being homeschooled. 

Christian's mother said that they didn't want the situation to turn into a lawsuit, but members of the school board never responded to any of the multiple emails she sent to them. “It could have been settled in the classroom as a teachable moment, but here we are with a lawsuit that no one ever wanted,” Leah McGhee told the Carolina Journal.

McGhee told the journal that her family has decided that it's best if Christian not return to Central Davidson High School and said that "the Board leaders aren’t a great group of people but the public has the authority to change that.”

According to Ballotpedia, three seats on the Davidson County school board are on the ballot during the general election on November 5th.