Elected officials object to school speaker policy

RALEIGH -- Some elected officials won't speak again at any Wake County Public Schools because they refuse to sign forms promising to watch what they say and do.

Wake Sheriff Donnie Harrison and Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly are among the officials objecting to a policy put in place after a controversial guest speaker attacked Islam at Enloe High School last year.

The new policy says guest speakers must first sign a form agreeing to things such as not denigrating any culture, race, gender, national origin or religion. Speakers must also agree to provide accurate information and appropriate attire, language and behavior are required.

"It's just horrible that they don't have the confidence that teachers will invite responsible speakers," Weatherly said today.

Weatherly said he had to sign the form recently to speak with students in Apex. But he said he won't sign the form again and has been mobilizing other elected officials against the policy.

Harrison said he turned down an invitation to speak at a Wake middle school after he was told he'd have to sign the form. As an elected official and law enforcement officer who can go to any school in the district, he said he refused to sign.

"It's degrading to make me sign the form," Harrison said. "I've always been honest. I'm not going to sign a form saying I'll be honest." School officials are defending the policy as being necessary to protect students against guest speakers engaging in irresponsible behavior. The policy says that teachers are required to stop speakers if they violate the guidelines.

"Why would someone not want to sign that form?" said Michael Evans, a Wake schools spokesman. "That's in place to protect everybody from the speakers to the teachers to the students."

Evans said he's only aware of Weatherly and Harrison objecting to the policy. He said it hasn't resulted in other people refusing to speak to students.

The new guidelines were implemented in May following a school district review of the situation at Enloe High School in Raleigh.

Last February, Enloe social studies teacher Robert Escamilla invited Kamil Solomon, an Egyptian-born Christian evangelist who lives in Raleigh, to speak at the school. Solomon denounced Islam as a religion of violence. He also distributed pamphlets that called the Prophet Muhammad a "criminal" and "demon possessed."

Following complaints from parents, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the ACLU, Escamilla was suspended, reprimanded and transferred to Phillips High School, an alternative school.

Superintendent Del Burns apologized to the Muslim community in May and announced the new speaker policy.

Escamilla filed a lawsuit against the school system in November alleging that his constitutional rights had been violated. The lawsuit demands that he be transferred back to Enloe.

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