The Diocese of Charlotte has entered a high-profile legal dispute over a private school’s expulsion of pupils whose parents challenged its curriculum.
The case — Turpin v Charlotte Latin School — dates to September 2021, when Doug and Nicole Turpin’s children, Olive and Luke, were told to leave Charlotte Latin, an independent secular K–12 in North Carolina. The Turpins say the expulsion came days after they questioned the school’s “harmful ideological agenda” at a board presentation.
Doug Turpin later wrote in the North State Journal on 19 April 2023 that a “new ‘foundational’ position” announced in 2020 meant “DEI would be the lens through which every aspect of the school’s culture and curriculum will be managed.” He claimed this brought “alarming virtue-signalling” and “woke class assignments” — including sexually explicit books in the library and a teacher telling pupils that “Republicans are white supremacists who are trying to create Jim Crow 2.0.”
Refocus Latin, a parents’ group the Turpins helped found, was invited to present its concerns to the board in 2021, with a promise of “no retaliation.” The presentation, Turpin said, included a library book “amounting to a how-to manual for gay sex” and artwork depicting “Jesus with His throat cut and black blood flowing out with the words ‘God is Dead’.”
The day after, Headmaster Charles Baldecchi allegedly called the group’s presentation “just awful” and “in bad faith,” and accused the parents of trying to “rip [the school’s] fabric apart.” Soon after, the Turpins’ children were expelled without warning.
The school insists the expulsions complied with its contracts, which reserve the right to terminate enrolment when “a positive, collaborative working relationship” with parents is deemed impossible. In April 2024, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the school’s position in a 2–1 decision; the state Supreme Court will hear the case on 29 October.
On 4 August 2025, the Diocese of Charlotte — led by Bishop Michael Martin, who in 2024 banned the traditional Latin Mass in the diocese — filed an amicus curiae brief supporting Charlotte Latin School. Diocesan counsel Joshua Davey wrote: “These contractual provisions are essential tools that allow religious schools to carry out their faith-based educational missions … while providing clarity and transparency to families who voluntarily choose to enrol.”
Davey argued that enforcing such clauses “avoids entangling courts in religious questions and protects the constitutional autonomy of private religious schools” under the First Amendment.
In May 2025, U.S. Representatives Richard Hudson and Pat Harrigan, joined by 11 North Carolina lawmakers, submitted a brief warning that the Court’s decision could “undermine the foundational trust between families and schools.” Their lawyer, Troy Shelton, accused Charlotte Latin of breaking its promises, smearing the Turpins, and expelling their children in retaliation for lawful speech.
The Turpins maintain they acted respectfully and followed the school’s own procedures. “We can easily demonstrate that our communication to the school was civil, respectful, and not inappropriate,” Doug Turpin said. “We followed the instructions in the school policies for how to provide concerns.”
The Turpins’ lawyer summarised the dispute by stating: “When private schools unfairly retaliate against students and their parents, can the schools be held accountable?”
