NC GOP superintendent candidate Michele Morrow talks about Jan. 6 Capitol attack, upholding Constitution and improving schools

So obviously there's been some coverage the last few days

about this video from January 6th

Um Can you explain what you meant in the video

by putting aside the constitution Well I can tell you

that I'm actually really encouraged I'm encouraged that the left

wing media is actually talking about the importance of the

constitution because I've actually been fighting for the last five

or six years to ensure that every citizen in North

Carolina has their constitutional rights

So I'm actually encouraged but in that video you were

talking about the Insurrection Act and putting aside the constitution

I think I was actually talking about the fact that

what had just happened was that they had put aside

the constitution

And what had happened is the we've seen the overreach

of the federal government when you had seven states that

actually wanted to bring back the vote so that they

could actually investigate cases where people had been under oath

stating that there had been election fraud either they had

been involved it or they were concerned that it had

happened they'd heard witness of it

So I thought that it was time for us as

we the people to stand up and say you guys

work for us because I believe everybody that's an elected

official works for the people of the United States of

America

And government doesn't give us our freedoms

It's actually God given inalienable rights

Right

But that's not that wouldn't be the insurrection act right

I mean the insurrection act you were talking about arresting

traitors or people for treason and you said if the

police won't do it and if the military won't do

that those actually were not my words

I have it

I can play it

Yeah my words were not to arrest people for treason

Ok Um I was stating that when our government is

not protecting the God given inalienable rights of our citizens

that it is our duty to make sure that they

understand that they work for us

And if that involves putting that aside the constitution then

that's OK

Well I say that if you look at what the

insurrection Act does I mean you guys are the ones

that said it was an insurrection

So why aren't you asking for the insurrection act to

be enacted No I wanna go back to the question

that you didn't answer

I'm going to the question of why didn't you want

why didn't they call for that If they if it

was an insurrection on January 6th that's what the instruction

acts was written for

Really Why I'm here is because I'm encouraged I'm encouraged

that

Now the left is understanding that what we've seen over

the last just four years of government lockdowns of vaccine

mandates of open borders even just two or three weeks

ago

Wasn't it every Democratic Congress person that voted to let

non citizens vote in our election That's incredibly unconstitutional

When you look at the expansion of Title nine that

Joe Biden has just put forth that's incredibly unconstitutional

So I'm actually very encouraged that the left is now

saying that the constitution needs to be upheld because we

haven't heard that from the left and we haven't heard

that when they wanted to I don't know stack the

Supreme Court or they wanted to do away with

What about spying on your enemies Like it was found

to be Obama and Clinton did against President Trump while

they were running against

What about using the judicial you know weaponizing the judicial

side of government against citizens So my point is this

as superintendent I want for every citizen in the United

States and in North Carolina to understand what the constitution

says

And so I want to bring civics back into our

classroom

I absolutely want it to be upheld

I believe the constitution is the greatest government document ever

written

And I believe that if we are upholding it then

we're going to be safe we're going to be prosperous

and we're going to be free

So that so I'm going to take that to me

that you are no longer talking that you no longer

are calling for putting aside the constitution

Actually that was 4.5 years ago

And most serious voters are focused on how we're going

to fix the education problems right now that we have

the incredible you know illiteracy rates that just keep skyrocketing

the increase in drugs and violence in our schools

84% increase

I think you guys even reported on that a few

months ago in just five years they're concerned that our

students don't know how to read and write and yet

my opponent is bragging about graduation rates and we know

that they're inflated

And so it's time for us to get back to

a sound basic education in North Carolina

And that's what I intend to do

One thing that you did mention apparently in an audio

file that was put out today had to do with

um uh sort of promoting the idea of elective Bible

studies in middle and high schools not Bible studies

No I said elective study of the Bible and actually

it was I think maybe 18 or 19 years ago

that mark that Mike Johnson who is right now the

Speaker of the House actually put that in and it's

in our bylaws in North Carolina that if we wanted

to study the Bible in terms of a historical text

or because of legislative reasons or whatever it might be

Um that that could be an elective that students could

choose to take if they wanted to take that

Ok because II I think that there are some that

have it

Yes there are

So I just want to expand that opportunity

Ok I just want and and just to give you

one more opportunity to respond I mean you've had a

lot of people talking about this video as you say

it was from 4.5 years ago

It was you know and unfortunately you know it's sad

that um everybody is bringing everything up 4.5 years ago

when right now our kids are about to go back

to school

And I don't know if you know this but last

year 473 teachers were assaulted on the job

We now are 6000 teachers below what we need to

have a qualified teacher in every classroom

And we you know people are begging for opportunity scholarships

they're begging to put their kids somewhere else so they

can get a quality education

And I really think that that's what every person is

concerned about

Education is probably the most uniting issue that we have

Why do we want to make it divisive regardless of

your race religion or politics

Everyone is concerned that our Children are not prepared to

be able to pursue careers where they're going to be

successful

You had mentioned I know in the in the past

calling for schools indoctrination centers and um how will how

should a person who'd say is a teacher in one

of those schools How should they have confidence that you're

going to be somebody who will advocate for their school

Well I've already been advocating as I said for the

last five years and as I'm going across the state

and I have been actually for the last three years

what I'm hearing from the teachers is they are tired

of being forced to do things in their classroom that

had and and participate in in programs that have nothing

to do with children's academic success

They want that heavy hand of the US Department of

Education to be removed from them so they can do

what they were called to do

I think every teacher wants the best for their students

I think that teaching is a calling and I think

that we have been wrong in not prioritizing our spending

to be students first and in the classroom first rather

than on special interest groups and and different programs that

are not helping our students to be academically successful

I know there are some in the Republican Party at

the national level that have called for the break up

of the the Federal Department of Education

What are your thoughts about that Well I think that

when you say those words it causes everybody a lot

of fear which is why I think the first thing

that I need to do once I get in is

we need to have an audit of finances um to

figure out where our money is going and we also

need an audit of programs

I think our government is really great at offering programs

and they usually have a great you know they they

have good intentions but if we've been doing something for

15 and 20 years and we can't see that it

has helped our kids academically in character development or in

career preparedness

I think it's time to cut the ties and put

that money towards something that is going to be productive

for our students

So I think once we get in there and figure

out wow we have a lot of extra curricular spending

I'll call it that's not really being focused on student

success

I think that they would probably be less fearful of

saying ok back off

We don't we don't need your money and we're going

to do it just as a state

I mean you are aware that there is federal money

that pays for a lot of the for example school

lunches for Children who are you know low income I

do and for the extra teachers and things like that

I do

But at the same time people need to recognize that

the federal government along with every dollar that they give

us there is an expectation that we are going to

push an agenda that comes from them

And along with that comes a lot of strings

And so what I'm saying is let's get to the

bottom of what is helpful and what is not helpful

and then we'll determine whether what our relationship is going

to look like with the US Department of Education

I don't think that we can just blindly say yes

we need to do everything they tell us to do

because we need those dollars

I think money matters but it matters more how you're

spending it

Ok

Anything else you want to add Um I would just

like to say that um I believe that North Carolina

we've been the number one place to have a business

to start a business for the last couple of years

And I think it's time for us to make North

Carolina the number one place to raise a family and

the number one educational system and I think we can

do it

Thank you very much

Thank you so much for your time