A Republican state representative in North Carolina says she received a message referencing the assassination of Charlie Kirk after she publicly questioned the hiring of a transgender music teacher at an Apex elementary school, and the school board's response has only deepened parents' frustration.
Rep. Erin Paré told the Washington Free Beacon that the controversy began when parents at Middle Creek Elementary School in Apex flagged a PTA photo from a teacher luncheon. The image showed a newly hired music teacher, Aria Derrick, previously known as Canon Derrick, who had previously sung as a baritone in college, wearing a dress. Parents contacted Paré. She posted about it on Facebook on July 27, floating the idea of state legislation requiring gender-appropriate professional attire for public school employees.
Two days later, Paré said she woke up to a Facebook message: "I hope you end up kirked." The phrase references the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk in September. No law enforcement response has been publicly confirmed. Martin Brock, the North Carolina General Assembly's chief of police, did not respond to a request for comment from the Free Beacon.
On July 28, North Carolina conservative influencer Cassie Clark posted photos of Derrick on X, including one showing the teacher in a skirt adorned with pentagrams and another showing Derrick wearing a women's open-shoulder top, seated at what appeared to be an elementary school lunch table with children's art on the wall. The widely viewed Libs of TikTok account also shared an image of Derrick.
Clark warned that families had been kept in the dark:
"Parents weren't notified. Those who don't know will find out tonight when they're blindsided at the teacher Meet and Greet."
Derrick would be teaching students as young as kindergarten. A parent group called Middle Creek Parental Rights formed in response, demanding more information about how the hiring decision was made. Aaron Driver, a Middle Creek parent, put the frustration plainly:
"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."
That complaint, that the school told parents nothing and left them to find out from strangers on social media, runs through every account in this story. The school district, the Wake County Public School System, does not appear to have a policy addressing gender-appropriate professional attire for employees, according to Paré's assessment. Derrick did not respond to a request for comment from the Free Beacon.
At a subsequent Wake County school board meeting, board members did not side with the parents who had raised objections. Board member Chris Heagarty argued against enforcing any dress code on teachers that distinguished between men and women:
"Enforcing gender-differentiated clothing requirements based on traditional gender roles constitutes impermissible sex stereotyping under the Constitution."
Board member Jennifer Job, meanwhile, blamed the entire episode on "culture wars," according to the Raleigh News & Observer's reporting on the meeting.
So the sequence runs like this: A principal hires a transgender music teacher to work with children as young as five. Parents are not told. They find out from a PTA photo and social media. A state lawmaker raises the issue publicly and receives a threat invoking a political assassination. And the school board's elected response is to lecture parents about constitutional law and accuse them of waging culture wars.
The principal who hired Derrick, Sarah Stephens, took over Middle Creek Elementary in February. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, completed in 2025. Her 293-page doctoral thesis, titled "Equity-Focused School Improvement," offers a window into her priorities.
In it, Stephens described herself as "a White female who identifies as an anti-racist and equity leader." She wrote that "anti-racist leadership scholars and researchers are concerned with identifying leadership practices that specifically name, critique, and dismantle white supremacy." Her LinkedIn profile, per the Free Beacon, identifies her as a "Champion for Equitable Opportunities."
Stephens did not respond to the Free Beacon's request for comment. But the thesis and the LinkedIn tagline sketch a clear ideological framework, one in which hiring decisions may be filtered through a progressive lens that treats parental objections as obstacles rather than legitimate concerns.
In her July 27 Facebook post, Paré laid out her position and hinted at next steps:
"Parents should be able to have access to the education environment most appropriate for their child. 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 issue, as far as I can tell."
She told the Free Beacon she had approached the idea carefully, saying she "just kind of floated the idea that maybe it's time to zip up the dress code for professional school employees." The response she got was a message invoking a murdered man.
Several questions remain unanswered. No one has publicly identified who sent the threatening message. It is unclear whether any law enforcement agency has opened an investigation. The school board has not disclosed whether Derrick's hire required board-level approval or was made solely at the principal's discretion. And the parent group's full list of demands beyond transparency about the hiring process has not been made public.
Parents in Apex asked a straightforward question: Why wasn't anyone told? For that, their state representative got a death threat, and the school board told them they were the problem. That is what accountability looks like in Wake County right now, pointed in exactly the wrong direction.
