A North Carolina Republican legislator says she has received death threats after questioning whether an elementary schools decision to hire a transgender music teacherphotographed in a pentagram-print skirtmeets basic standards of professionalism and parental expectations.
The controversy centers on Middle Creek Elementary School in Apex, where newly hired music teacher Aria Derrick, formerly known as Canon Derrick, will be instructing children as young as kindergarten. According to the Washington Free Beacon, the issue first surfaced when parents saw staff photos from a Parent-Teacher Association luncheon and noticed a biologically male teacher in female attire. "This came to my attention from parents of the kids at the school," North Carolina state representative Erin Par told the Washington Free Beacon. "The PTA posted a picture of the teachers at this luncheon, and one of those pictures had this male wearing a dress in it. Then parents started to realize what was going on."
Par said she initially raised what many conservatives would consider a commonsense concern about professional standards in the classroom. "I just kind of floated the idea that maybe it's time to zip up the you know dress code for professional school employees," Par said. The matter escalated rapidly after images of Derrickone showing the teacher in a skirt decorated with pentagramsspread across social media and were amplified by the influential Libs of TikTok account.
Local conservative activist Cassie Clark warned that many families were being kept in the dark about the new hire. "Parents weren't notified. Those who don't know will find out tonight when they're blindsided at the teacher Meet and Greet," said North Carolina conservative influencer Cassie Clark in a July 28 post to X, sharing photos of Derrickincluding one in which the teacher wears a skirt adorned with pentagrams. Another showed Derrick, wearing a women's open shoulder top, sitting at what looks like an elementary school lunch table with children's art on the wall. For parents already skeptical of progressive social agendas in public schools, the combination of transgender identity, occult imagery, and very young students has only deepened concerns.
Par, who represents the area in the state legislature, stressed that the core issue is parental authority over their childrens learning environment. As a newly hired music teacher at Middle Creek Elementary School, Derrick, who sang as a baritone in college, would teach students as young as kindergarten, Par told the Free Beacon. "Parents should be able to have access to the education environment most appropriate for their child," Par added in a July 27 Facebook post. "I'll keep you updated. May be time to introduce a bill requiring gender-appropriate professional attire for public school employees, as WCPSS does not have a policy addressing this issueas far as I can tell."
Within days of voicing those concerns, Par says she became the target of explicit threats. Two days later Par said she woke up to a Facebook message telling her, "I hope you end up kirked"a reference to the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk in September. The threat underscores how quickly debates over parental rights and gender ideology can turn toxic, particularly when conservatives challenge the prevailing orthodoxy in public education.
Law enforcement has so far remained publicly silent about the matter. North Carolina General Assembly chief of police Martin Brock did not respond to a request for comment about the case from the Free Beacon. That silence has done little to reassure parents and lawmakers who believe political intimidation is being used to shut down legitimate debate over school policy.
At the district level, the response has largely aligned with progressive legal and cultural arguments against traditional norms. Since the controversy erupted, both sides have dug in. During a Tuesday meeting of the Wake County school boardwhose members are elected in the increasingly left-leaning county, which includes Raleighseveral board members said they were against enforcing any kind of dress code on teachers.
One board member framed the very idea of gender-specific dress expectations as unconstitutional. "Enforcing gender-differentiated clothing requirements based on traditional gender roles constitutes impermissible sex stereotyping under the Constitution," said board member Chris Heagarty, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. A second board member, Jennifer Job, blamed the imbroglio on "culture wars," according to the News & Observer.
Parents, however, are organizing rather than backing down. But parents are also digging in, forming the group Middle Creek Parental Rights, which had demanded more information about how Derrick was hired. "Parents shouldn't have to discover major changes about their children's education from X, or national media outlets or big questions brought home by confused and vulnerable 5- and 6-year-olds," said Aaron Driver, a Middle Creek parent.
Attention has also turned to the schools leadership and the ideological lens guiding hiring and policy decisions. Derrick was hired into the Middle Creek community by school principal Sarah Stephens, who became principal in February. Stephens, a she/her-pronoun-slinging, self-described "Champion for Equitable Opportunities," completed a doctorate in educational leadership in 2025 from the University of North Carolina in reliably liberal Chapel Hill, where she also completed her undergraduate studies, according to her LinkedIn. Her thesis, available online, was titled "Equity-Focused School Improvement."
Stephenss academic work leaves little doubt about her commitment to the fashionable doctrines of anti-racism and equity that have swept through education schools and bureaucracies. In the 293-page, jargon-filled tract, Stephens said she identified as "a White female who identifies as an anti-racist and equity leader." "Anti-racist leadership scholars and researchers are concerned with identifying leadership practices that specifically name, critique, and dismantle white supremacy," she made sure to clarify.
For many parents and conservative lawmakers, the Middle Creek dispute is not an isolated flare-up but a revealing snapshot of a broader struggle over who sets the moral and cultural boundaries in public schools. Neither Stephens nor Derrick responded to a request for comment from the Free Beacon. As families rally under the banner of Middle Creek Parental Rights and legislators like Par weigh proposals for gender-appropriate professional attire, the clash between progressive identity politics and traditional parental authority in North Carolina classrooms shows no sign of fading.
Login