Fighting Back: Doug Turpin and the Legal Battle Over Private School Curriculum Choices

Peter Pappas: Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet. I'm your host, Peter Pappis, and I am solo today in the studio for special guest, Mr. Doug Turpin. Welcome, sir.

Doug Turpin: nice to be on your show. Thanks very much for the opportunity.

Peter Pappas: Anytime, anytime. I look forward to getting into this. So we at the cabinet, we know we're the smartest hour of radio, and we are here to give a voice to the conservatives of Fayetteville, Cumberland County and beyond. And with that, so Mr. Turpin, I'm gonna I'd like to review a little bit of b background about how we got to here, basically. And and we'll we're gonna get into who the heck Doug Turpin is in a little bit, but basically for the audience, The Turpins are Charlotte parents. They enrolled their children at a school called Charlotte Latin School for its traditional college prep curriculum. later they went on to found the parent advocacy group, Refocus Latin, because they had an objection to some curriculum shifts at the school. In 2021, they presented a PowerPoint to the school board raising their concerns with the school. The school alleges one thing, the Turpins deny the other. And as a penalty, it seems like the school took it out on the kids and expelled both of them. the Turpins sued for breach of contract, and a trial court at that time ruled against them. And that was during COVID, 2021. Is that correct? That's right in the middle

Doug Turpin: That's correct.

Peter Pappas: of that. And come August 14th, which is where we get to today, the North Carolina Supreme Court has reversed that ruling, 5-2 against party lines. That the Turpin's claims can proceed. Justice Allison Riggs was the was the dissenter, warning that the ruling would open the door to litigation against private schools generally, which I always love it when Democrats want to look out for everybody else. Mr. Turpin is CEO of Coalition for Liberty. this has drawn national attention. So you've got some big bookings coming up, and I appreciate you finding the time for little old me in Fayetteville. now, and this is a win. At the preliminary stages. You guys really haven't won your case, but you've won the opportunity to be heard. And that

Doug Turpin: That's right.

Peter Pappas: that to me is people go around all the time, no justice, no peace, or justice wasn't served. Well, was it did the system work or not? And in your case, the system wasn't working. So,

Doug Turpin: Unsolument. World.

Peter Pappas: but let's let's let's talk a little bit about your background a little bit. so I you said it was a whirlwind ever since you guys won your appeal and when you get away from the cameras in the courtroom, how are the kids doing through all this? It's five years in the making.

Doug Turpin: know, this was really tough. the to go back to the beginning, we were searching for a school that was apolitical, classical education, measured children on merit, taught them Judeo-Christian values. I grew up here in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was well aware of the founding of the school, was right around we moved here and it was considered the premier school of its i of the area.

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: And they delivered on that for ten years. And then it seems to me it's akin to education for all what happened. Because they had a headmaster and a series of headmasters there that delivered exactly what they said they were going to transparent. Curriculum online. You'll you'll never be retaliated against if you have Concerns, bring them to us. Why we'll have a conversation. The contract guaranteed that

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: parents wouldn't be retaliated against if they brought their concerns to the school. That was what we were directed to do. And yet they decided to become the local school that cancels children.

Peter Pappas: Right.

Doug Turpin: If you simply ask them questions that they don't want to answer.

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: Charlotte Latin and their their woke allies. The accreditation world, the National Association for Independent Schools, Southern Association for Independent Schools, they've all taken a very hard, hard left turn.

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: And essentially, what they want to do is to use that power to enforce an orthodoxy of

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: woke indoctrination.

Peter Pappas: Well, okay, so how aware are the children of so basically it was just kind of a you know, well, we're gonna get into the case, but how do the kids see this? Because one thing I like to mention to people, there was the so-called Leandro case in North Carolina, right? That yo that case is so old and going on forever that young Leandro has now become an attorney. He was in middle school when it's ti when it started. So he's become an attorney and he's fighting for his own bill, basically, but I think we did overturn that as well. but do the kids do they are they invested in this fight? Are they just kind of being teenagers or I w how how does it look for them?

Doug Turpin: Well, you know. It was the only school they'd ever known. And

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: and so to have them when they'd done nothing wrong, and we had

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: done nothing wrong, be made an example of just to induce a culture of fear. I mean I I can remember us picking these kids up they were escorted out by a security guard as if they had been like criminals and

Peter Pappas: Right.

Doug Turpin: they were told without any warning to clean up their to clear out their locker and to to go ahead and you know be expelled. And they were bewildered. It was the only school

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm. How old

Doug Turpin: they'd ever known. It was their friends, their teachers, the entire environment. And a lot of people don't realize that private schools they have a cycle. You can't just

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: transfer to another private school, there's no room at the end. And Latin was very aware of this. They knew how painful this would be, and that was the point. The point was to go ahead and say, anyone asking questions we don't want to answer. You're

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: next. So we watched our kids, you know, sobbing, you know, because they had done absolutely nothing. Only we followed every procedure.

Peter Pappas: Right.

Doug Turpin: So this was really tough. And you know, we did the best we could to to help them to overcome this.

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: But it was no small thing for for the the children. they were 11

Peter Pappas: Well, what grade levels were they in when all this when they were expelled?

Doug Turpin: and 13.

Peter Pappas: They were eleven and thirteen. So what is that? Fifth? Yeah.

Doug Turpin: Right the middle of a pandemic, you know, 2021, schools are locked down. It's about the worst time that you can go ahead and do this. And just

Peter Pappas: Right.

Doug Turpin: for your readers or your listeners to understand, I mean, this was this conservative school, and all of a sudden you see a picture of Jesus in the school with his throat cut. Blood cooling down his shirt, in the words, God is dead. You see a picture. They call these things artwork, inspired by students. Suddenly, we

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: never see anything like this, but suddenly a new liberal headmaster, Chuck Balbeckie, comes in, supported by a new liberal board, and you have a picture of a burning Bible in the school.

Peter Pappas: So okay, so you're Charlotte native, so you knew the school, it had a reputation for being I don't want to say conservative, but for quality education. Is that I mean, would that be a fair assessment? Okay.

Doug Turpin: It was it was it was the a it was a quality school and you know they always said you'll never know what direction the teachers lean. We don't allow that. We want the kids to go ahead and learn how to think, not what to think. Well they reversed it. Now they

Peter Pappas: Yeah.

Doug Turpin: want them to know what to think, and they only want it to be one way. It's extreme. I mean, like my son was being taught from a book called Woke, The Young Poet's Guide to Justice instead of the Classics. You know, it It was it was overt, it was extreme, and they were gaslighting the parents. The parents

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: would be asking questions about what they wanted to do. They took the curriculum offline for the first time ever. They wouldn't tell us what it was that they were going to teach the children. They absolutely refused to discuss

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: that. So we we did what you know would be normal to try to engage in dialogue, and the board invited our group. Which goes dozens and dozens of parents. Yeah.

Peter Pappas: And let me let me ask you this. The board, so I referenced it in my notes as well, but the board, are we talking just about the private school board of Latin? Okay. Because this is completely autonomous from the public schools. So the trustees Okay.

Doug Turpin: Yes, the private school board of Latin, the Board of Trustees. Yes, so it's a private school, and they they invited us to create a presentation so that they could understand our concerns. So we

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: took a lot of time, and that presentation, the entire story, is on www.honoabove all dot org.

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: Honor above all was the school's motto. And they used to live up to that. You know, that was something that really had meaning

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: there. They treated everybody with honor and respect. And the kind of things that happened to our kids were unthinkable.

Peter Pappas: So everybody lost their minds during COVID. I mean, I we we we were there, we saw it, we got some gray hair, we get it. was this perhaps a gradual like the way we boil a frog as we slowly turn the heat up? Was this a slow burn that had started before? Or do you think it was more of a they got new person? What what was the flash point? Like, did they get new personnel?

Doug Turpin: It was sudden. The re the the retirement of the former headmaster and shot ballbecky coming in and then

Peter Pappas: Okay. How long did they serve?

Doug Turpin: that so what now?

Peter Pappas: How long did they serve as headmaster?

Doug Turpin: immediately 10, 15 years or so easily. the the prior headmaster Chuck Balbecki just came in right around the George Floyd riots and the

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: that whole Black Lives Matter. We start seeing emails from the school talking about Black Lives Matter is and just things that were turning it into a highly politicized environment focused

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: on politics as opposed to education.

Peter Pappas: Well, were you getting those emails because your kids were in a government class? Or was that just the messaging from the s I

Doug Turpin: to s out generally to to all of the the there. And they they even painted the school as if it was fundamentally racist from its beginnings, which is an obvious lie. You know, it was integrated from the beginning,

Peter Pappas: How old how old is the school, Mr. Turpin?

Doug Turpin: demonize the school, say it's wrong and evil and the the w it originated from evil. So we've got to atone for our past actions. I mean the the school didn't have anything to atone for. And nobody did but they

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: wanted everybody to to you know I remember my son coming home and saying to to me in storytime dad is there's something wrong with me because I'm white you know my teachers they make me feel like there's something wrong with being white

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: and and I was like that's terrible you know and he started telling me why and then he goes Dada I'm a boy right You go, Wait, what? And I was like, Why are you asking me that? He goes,

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: Well, you know, my k and I'm like I don't understand what's prompting this. And he said, Well, they they told me in school that if you like hanging out with other boys a lot, that might mean you're gay. You should think a lot about that. That might be something that you really are. And

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: give that a lot of thought. And so he's 11. Well, you know, I was like, no, that doesn't mean that. Of course that. And he goes, man, all Republicans want supremacy. That wouldn't be true at all. Republicans were the

Peter Pappas: Yeah, that's not the way that works. No. Yeah.

Doug Turpin: ones that fought to free slavery and the Democrat Party was the one that wanted to preserve it. And so

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: that's just not true. And so, you know, then he tells me that I guess I should back up and explain about the presentation. Yeah.

Peter Pappas: Well, actually that was my next question. So let's walk through the twenty twenty one board presentation. I'd like to know. So I mean, of course I did flag where they said that you the presentation contained racist statements. So let's talk about the tenor of the room. I mean, you said there was a lot of prep preparation, so tell me about that, and then let's talk then we'll get to the room.

Doug Turpin: Yeah, so the presentation showed them things that were happening, like a a picture of a pig that was on the wall with his throat cut, dressed in a police uniform, with all cops are bastards. You know, I mean there was there was overtly political

Peter Pappas: Your presentation included a representation of what was already in the school. Okay. Okay.

Doug Turpin: school showing them these pictures of Jesus with his throat cut. You know,

Peter Pappas: Right.

Doug Turpin: we were showing them all these crazy things, whether they're burning Bibles or other things, things teachers were saying and doing. And we were just simply asking them one simple question. Tell me. What you intend to teach our children so we can

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: understand what direction and what to do. Do we want to still stay here or not? And you know, if not, we could look for another school for next year. But the board basically said thank you for sharing effectively. Thanks for coming up. We really appreciate it. It's great, you know, so wonderful for you guys to talk with us. We're not gonna answer any of your questions. We're not gonna have any more meetings. So that shut everything down, shut the dialogue. And Chuck Baldecki looked over at us and said, We're in the same school. We always were. There's no changes. You know,

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: we're still teaching children, you know, how to think, not what to think. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary, we're being gaslighted. Then there was a promise. If we came in to talk to them, there'd be no retaliation. Why, Denny O'Leary, the board chair, said, that would be really obvious. I mean, you know, we could never get away with something like that. would never be done. That's crazy talk, you know. so you're safe, come in and talk to us and you won't get any retaliation. Well about a week

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: later, the headmaster gets on a all teacher, all parents video conference. This is on our website, Otter Bovewall. You can actually hear what he said. And he was just raging at us, saying that we were just awful, fighting for a lost cause, that we were ripping apart the fabric of the school with our questions there about what they were doing in simple civil, respectful ask, can you can you talk to us about this? And then, you know, he said, honestly, if any Refocus Latin parents, raise any questions or concerns, bring them to me, I will deal with them.

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: It was an obvious threat to everybody that participated. That's retaliation. And then, you know, at story time, my son starts telling me, Dad, you know, these teachers really don't like, you know, they apparently don't like you very much either.

Peter Pappas: Well, were they were they new teachers as well as a new headmaster? Or the headmaster came and maybe let them all let their freak flag fly and enabled the environment? Okay, so the teachers were probably

Doug Turpin: Yes, that's pretty much what happened. Yes. People were encouraged to take an overtly not over encouraged, I think they were pushed hard to take a very, very hard line, radical turn. And so, you know, your son tells you he's no longer allowed to drink water or to use the bathroom. You're like, that that that's too far. This is too much. I need

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: to have a conversation. What parent wouldn't reach out to a school at that point and say, Can we talk about this? You know, that's what you're supposed to do. That's what they always

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: said. It was in the enrollment agreement. So I simply did. I called the school up and I said, Who should I talk to about this? And they said, this is a serious situation. The person I talked to was very sympathetic. And they said, Talk to Todd Balaban. middle school principal. So I emailed him and I said, Todd, I'm really concerned about some of the things my son's telling me. Can we have a conversation about this? He told me no, back in the E. No, we cannot talk about this. Instead, I'm going to go straight to the teacher that you say is is you know mistreating or doing these things to your son. And and I was horrified and I said, wait a minute, wait a minute, you haven't even heard from me all about what I'm concerned about. So how can you thoroughly investigate this? And and and I'm concerned about, you know, w what this teacher's gonna do and what you guys are gonna do. And and he said, I guarantee they'll be no retaliation. No to local.

Peter Pappas: When I I don't see whenever this retaliation thing entered the conversation because I I am the product of a private school that was run by a board of trustees. Now I do want to ask you, the board of trustees, were they active parents or were they possibly like previous they had people enrolled there? What was what does the majority

Doug Turpin: Active parents.

Peter Pappas: of the board consist of?

Doug Turpin: Majority of the board would be active parents or the headmaster, an ex officio, might be some officials at the school.

Peter Pappas: Okay. So these are people that have been around and they are seasoned and they are experienced in the ways of the school I would say in the before times, you know.

Doug Turpin: Yeah, they they they were supposed to be people like us, representing

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: us as a group, but they'd gone very liberal, and they kind of it felt like there was a litmus test at that

Peter Pappas: So

Doug Turpin: point. You had to be liberal in order to join the board ongoing. And so you know, again, they invited me into a private meeting with the headmaster, which was extraordinarily odd. This would be something any normal school in a normal scenario would have had the headmaster. or the middle school principal, get on a phone and you would have some dialogue about Hey, maybe we want to move them to another class, or let's at least you know investigate this together. Maybe have a meeting with the teacher. Hey, you know, let's let's just chat about this situation. How do we make it better? That's not what happened. They promised me that if I attended this meeting with the headmaster, a week after the headmaster directed everybody to bring them to me if they have any questions. So I recorded the conversation because I was concerned that. This sounded maybe like it might be a setup, but maybe they wanted to provoke me or to to to make it. So I noticed when I go into the meeting that the security guard was hanging out outside. It's like Hello, security card from a parent meeting here, you know, this is this is really strange. And I get in there and they immediately just dismissed everything my son had said without actually even hearing what I had to say. I was immediately told all it was none of it could be true. And he pulls out the enrollment agreements and says, You've already violated these agreements. You know, we're gonna expel your children from the only school they've ever done. And

Peter Pappas: So how do what what did they say you violated in the in enrollment agreement?

Doug Turpin: I've been plotting against the school. He said I've been meeting with

Peter Pappas: That's in the enrollment agreement?

Doug Turpin: other parents at their houses, talking about our concerns about the school. I didn't know we were in the Soviet Union. I mean I thought I could actually meet with other parents freely and discuss concerns. But you know, we were plotting against all of the changes that he was inducing. And you can't do that.

Peter Pappas: And

Doug Turpin: You're you're you're you're gonna go. And he then he slandered us by By making a completely false statement, claiming that we had said that the minority children and minority teachers were not up to the standards of the schools and didn't deserve their positions. And challenge lesson, let's get this presentation out there. That's not in there. You can't show me anywhere in that presentation that we made any kind of statement like that. Why not? Yeah, it was, it was, it was, that's what he was trying to imply.

Peter Pappas: So is that what they're alleging was the racist remark? Is that what they are s so what what are they alleging in your presentation? So what are they alleging in your presentation that was because that's what I have in my notes here that they they claim that the presentation contained racist statements. So what what were the statements that they have issue with?

Doug Turpin: beats me. You know, I they I think that we were talking in general about, you know, if you if you have standards that are different for different children there, if you guys do some of those things or different for different teachers based on race or gender or other things, that that's going to pro not have the best people teaching and that that's not appropriate. It's not legal. You're not supposed to discriminate against people based on their inherent characteristics and that doesn't lead to the best outcomes. So I think

Peter Pappas: Okay. Okay.

Doug Turpin: you know we just generally we're saying we don't think this is the right direction. If you guys are going to do this, which we want you to explain to us, if that is going to be the policy, we don't know if what you're doing. We just want you to explain to us what is it you plan on doing? How do you guys plan on hiring doing these kinds of things. And so there wasn't wasn't a statement that they had done anything with anybody who was in the school. We were asking about what do you plan to do? And registering a concern about how that could affect the future of the school.

Peter Pappas: Okay. Well, let's t let's come out of the school for a moment because you so everything occurred. Wh so the children ended up going to public school or did you find another private school that suited your needs?

Doug Turpin: We went to a a series of Christian schools. So

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: when you're summarily expelled like that in the middle of the year, you have to find another school or the public schools. Well, you know, we felt like we wanted to go to a Christian school. We ultimately ended up putting our kids in a Catholic school in class. And you know, it was a it was tough for them

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: to make that transition. But, you know, we we we fought this lawsuit not As much for our family as for all the families of North Carolina and families outside of it. We felt powerfully that if schools had the right, as the associations in Latin say, to be able to just summarily expel you because you ask questions they don't like, that could lead to very serious scenarios. Imagine that somebody is being physically abused or there's something terrible going on, and that they're they're aware of. The parents, but they're afraid of retaliation that their children are going to be, or just inhibiting the ability of them to have normal dialogue. Or maybe they might not like what organization you belong to, or who you work for, or what your religion is, or what your parents say. You know, I mean, anything could suddenly cause them to declare the relationship impossible.

Peter Pappas: Sure. Well, and that's what's compelling about your story is that this is a private school that we are taking issue against. because there's plenty of feedback. And I think just two or three weeks ago in Wake County, there was a few parents that I had it I featured it on the show. I had some video clips. the one more conservative father was saying, Okay, so The woke people want me to take my children out of school, which is I pay taxes to have them in school, and then I have to pay again for private school to help them escape. because I think everything surrounded, there was a teacher that is a biological male dressed as a female and trying to get the students to address him as her. and that's just I think it's incumbent on parents to go to the school board and make their voices. So your case is compelling because it's the first time I've seen a private school. held to account at this level. We had a private school here in Fayetteville, Berean Baptist, I believe, that they denied entry to an openly LGBTQ child. They were cre they're a church school. They got to say who they want to allow on their doors. there was some money exchange. There was a a settlement, but the child ultimately did not go there. So that's what is compelling about what you've got going on here. Now let's go to court. yes, sir.

Doug Turpin: P Peter, just one one comment I think that is really critical to understand. We're big supporters of private school education. You know, one of the things that we feel like is they should have the right to determine their own enrollment of who they want or their own curriculum. They should be honest and transparent about what it is.

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: What we don't think they should be able to do is to be able to, once you're admitted, summarily expel you simply because you're asking questions they don't want to answer. Raising

Peter Pappas: Sure. Yeah.

Doug Turpin: that specter raises the possibility of terrible scenarios emerging. And people be making an agonizing choice about whether or not they can even ask a simple question. Being expelled. That is the essence of what the Charlotte Latin and his allies and the creditors said. We can declare, because we think it that the relationship is impossible. We get to decide, no matter what it is you said or did,

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: we'll just decide to expel your kids.

Peter Pappas: So were were you utilizing the state opportunity scholarship for your children at that time? No. So you were right out of pocket. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Doug Turpin: No. It didn't even exist I don't think. Yeah, it didn't even exist at the point.

Peter Pappas: So, well, because that's another thing we've raised on this show, regarding opportunity. Cumberland County is one of the top recipients of opportunity scholarships since we have a tier one school system. We're very, very poor. So we have a lot of vouchers going on, but the argument is, well, who's gonna regulate the the private schools? but I fully support the opportunity scholarship. I know the government can afford to fund the public schools and they can also afford to give me my taxes back and let me send my children where I want. But I wanna talk about Justice Riggs' dissent to you directly. do you do you think it's gonna I mean, so her dissent was basically if I if we agree with this, then it's going to expose every private school to the same dis to the same risk. So what what's your opinion on that?

Doug Turpin: Yeah, so I found it laughable and very politically motivating and convenient there because we have something called the standard of review here. Where if you file a lawsuit, everything is automatically assumed to be true. And if you validly state a claim, it's supposed to go on to the next stage for discovery depositions, you know, and be able to present your facts to the decider or trier of facts. And so that was the way things are obviously supposed to work. But we

Peter Pappas: So

Doug Turpin: came into Mecklenburg and a a very politically motivated ruling came in where they said, Well, they're a private school, they can do anything we want.

Peter Pappas: Yeah.

Doug Turpin: They could commit fraud, they can use unfairness, they can lie to you, induce you to come into a meeting and make a fraudulent representation that you're safe, induce you to make comments and then expel you. They can't be held to account. They can slander, defame you, make false, they can do anything they want. It's literally what they were saying. The appeals court was a Democrat.

Peter Pappas: What is the what is the temperature of the original venue that you took this? So is it a more you took it to Mecklenburg County? Okay.

Doug Turpin: Yeah, McLeanburg County, it was assigned to a judge, it was liberal, and

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: then an appeals court, the same thing. It was politically motivated reasoning. In fact, it was so extreme, the die trial that they had, that the appeals court take, from what I understand, the unprecedented step. Never in history has there been an order for them to redo it. But the appeals court ordered them to redo it and relook at what they did.

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: Because it was it was shocking. Political campaign. That's not what judges are supposed to do. They're supposed to go ahead and look at this based on facts and the law. So the Supreme Court, we had to go all the way to the Supreme Court. And then they just basically looked at this as a matter of law and ruled on it as a matter of law. That said, yes, schools can not for their enrollment decisions, not for their curriculum. That was not who it was about. But can you lie to parents? Break your contracts, can you induce them to come into meetings over false promises and then expel them and retaliate them when you said you wouldn't? Can you defame them and and make false statements to imply two days after they kicked their kids out, they sent in an email to everybody at the school the same false claim about refocus Latin mass, and they knew what they were doing. You know, there it's like okay, you're making this claim that makes us

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm. Well, they're covering their own butts, yeah.

Doug Turpin: sound like we're were racist with

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: this claim about what our presentation said, but we never said. That was not in our presentation. They completely twisted it to make it sound bad, their

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: intention.

Peter Pappas: So do you re so and this is one of the last questions I have, you know, so with everything that's occurred in the last five years, do you sometimes regret making that presentation that that was the catalyst for getting your kids expelled?

Doug Turpin: proud of what we did. Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing. You know, and so I you know, we could not perceive that cancel culture was gonna strike home the the way it did. That they were going to make an example out of our children to impose this culture of fear. They just don't think normal people would ever behave that way. But that's not how they think. They don't want engagement and dialogue, they want to be able to ram things down everybody's throats and make you too afraid. to ask any questions because that would undermine their ability to do what they want to do without any opposition or questions. So and you might leave if you knew, if the parents knew what was really going on, they might

Peter Pappas: Well

Doug Turpin: they might get into a real uproar. An uproar was really building. They wanted it to be stretched.

Peter Pappas: Yeah. Well, you as parents should know the curriculum going in. That's why you choose a certain school. You you you tour the school, you get a feel for the school, you see what they're gonna teach. Okay, I want my child here, but if the school decides to break their promise to you, or you know, the the it's false advertising it looks like. It's not like it's on T V. The burger looks different in person, you know, I think you deserve to be able to speak up. but I do want to comment one editorial housekeeping chore, I did not reach out to the school, of course. and that was only because there's an active litigation and they wouldn't talk to me anyway, so I just didn't bother. but Mr. Turpin, where where can we send the listeners to find your story, website, stuff like that?

Doug Turpin: Above all dot org. And then I wanted to let everybody know that this so powerfully moved us that we thought out of something evil, let's make something good. So I wanted to be able to to protect the children of North Carolina with our lawsuit, which we're funding on our own. but then we also founded Coalition for Liberty. And Coalition for Liberty, one of its primary purposes is to fight back against cancer. Cultural issues. Because the most people aren't in the position to be able to fight back. If somebody's intentionally lying about you, trying to destroy your life, or get you fired from your job, or does do that, people often have nowhere to turn and

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm.

Doug Turpin: they don't have the resource to fight back. So our C three nonprofit, which is a state policy network partner there, that it's achieved that level of status for the things that we've done, the accomplishments we have. You can look at our in the media. Section and see the people we've represented. The

Peter Pappas: Okay.

Doug Turpin: idea is it needs to be the everyday person feeling comfortable, they can say what they think without retribution of an intentional lie to harm them. And so we will file a lawsuit, we'll make sure it gets lots of media attention. And if somebody wants to support the pushback to help protect us, but help us protect children, their parents that are being tossed out of schools or other things. We want to send a message to the other side. We can't get away with intentional evil acts and just expect nothing's gonna happen.

Peter Pappas: Okay. One more time. I think I accidentally spoke over you. the can you just restate each website?

Doug Turpin: Yeah, honorabove all dot org and votalation for liberty dot com.

Peter Pappas: Okay. Well, with that, Mr. Turpin, I appreciate you coming and appearing on my show. it's been very enlightening and you have an open invitation to return. I I'm really you'll be in my Google alert. Let's put it like that. We'll be looking for developments as they come. so with that, I'm Peter Pappas with the Carolina Cabinet. Thank you for watching. you can always go to our website, the Carolinacabinet.com. please do click like share. It doesn't cost you anything, but it costs you maybe four seconds. So please go there. And until next time, we'll see you next week. Thank you.

Doug Turpin: Thank you, Peter.