The New Hanover County Board of Education elected to disband the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee at their December meeting, which has since sparked backlash from the area’s LGBTQ+ community.
This move comes after the EDI committee met earlier this week to discuss its future plans. The committee’s chair, Republican school board member Melissa Mason, signed a “Education Over Indoctrination Pledge” when she ran for office, vowing to “remove 100 percent of CRT, SEL, EDI, and Woke Indoctrination from the curriculum and administration.”
“What I really wanted to do was sit down and get your recommendations, get your concerns, get your thoughts so that I could bring them to the board.” Mason said during the EDI’s 90 minute conversation, “I will still share your ideas as your ideas because this is your committee not just me.”
Democratic school board member and fellow committee member Hugh McManus said he believed Mason volunteered to chair the EDI just to disband it. He called for Mason to resign as chair, which she refused.
“You were placed there to implode EDI and you knew that from the beginning,” McManus said.
Fellow Republican board member Pat Bradford said she was disappointed in the recent meeting held by the committee, claiming the members didn’t actually want diversity.
“I came, and I saw, I was very disappointed. I was appalled. I saw no appreciation of diversity of thought, I saw no inclusion, I saw a great deal of hate.” she said. “After what I saw and heard last night, I am not in favor of continuing this committee. I will vote to disband it.”
Mason also voted to disband the committee she was chair of, claiming the school system already had other resources in place to address the issues the EDI committee was working on solving.
Kelley Finch, the lead pastor of Mosaic United Methodist Church, told local reporters the decision to disband the EDI would harm the students in the New Hanover County school system.
“It’s not only scary but it is leading to things that will create a community where we are not safe,” Finch said. “Where our young children will not have a voice, where many don’t even want to go to school anymore. It is hate-filled and it is ugly.”