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We've been told during the primary that the Superintendent of Public Instruction has no power, but that's not true. Catherine Truitt's office suspends and revokes teachers' licenses who have committed crimes and sexually abused children.
Due to Truitt's negligence, at least two convicted pedophiles hold North Carolina teaching licenses in good standing today.
Shawn Hicks, former Harnett County Teacher of the Year, was fired after he was arrested on three charges of sex crimes against a student on April 6, 2022, according to a WRAL report [ [link removed] ].
Hicks used both his position as a teacher and as a pastor at a church in Bunn to lure students to his home, sources told WRAL News.
Under Catherine Truitt's supervision, this pedophile kept his license for two years, without suspension. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of child abuse and was sentenced on February 2nd, 2024.
Today Shawn Hicks has an NC teaching license in [ [link removed] ] good standing according to DPI’s Licensure database:
Parker Brown, a fifth-grade teacher in Pender County, was arrested on September 29, 2022, for six charges of second-degree sexual exploitation of minors, one charge of third-degree sexual exploitation of minors for possessing child pornography, and one charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. Upon his arrest, Brown immediately resigned from Pope Elementary School according to reports. [ [link removed] ]
In January 2024, Brown was finally convicted after keeping his teaching license for 16 months without suspension. Today Parker Brown has a North Carolina teaching license in good standing [ [link removed] ], even after being placed on the sex offender registry.
TRUITT'S HISTORY OF IGNORING PEDOPHILES' THREAT TO CHILDREN
Last year, it was revealed that the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's (DPI) teacher licensing and sanctioning process had serious lapses. Several school boards and principals in Lee and Onslow counties contacted Superintendent Truitt regarding teachers who had surrendered their teaching licenses after being investigated for sex abuse crimes.
However, they still had their licenses.
Truitt's official policy is to wait until a guilty verdict is handed down before acting on teachers charged with sex crimes. In reality, Truitt's predecessors had followed the suspension process for decades before Truitt's lawyer incorrectly wrote in emails to school officials that there was no legal process for suspending licenses:
Catherine Truitt's department website explains the grounds for suspending a teaching license:
Last year Catherine Truitt refused to revoke [ [link removed] ]the license of another convicted pedophile and former teacher Jeremy Flock after a watchdog group brought it to her attention. Representative Tricia Cotham and Senator Amy Galey intervened and convinced Truitt to revoke the pedophile's license by state law.
The email below shows Truitt first dismissed Rep. Cotham’s request to revoke convicted pedophile Jeremy Flock’s license, saying that he’s “enjoying the due process guaranteed to him by the Fourth Amendment.”
Like the other criminals mentioned in this article, Flock had been free on bail for more than a year and convicted of crimes while still maintaining an active license.
Allowing charged and convicted pedophiles to have access to schools is a feature, not a bug of Catherine Truitt’s administration. Her words and actions show she has no intention of upholding teaching license regulations in North Carolina.
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