Nicole Carr

Reporter

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Nicole Carr focuses on criminal justice and racial inequity for ProPublica's South unit. She previously served as an investigative reporter for WSB-TV in Atlanta. In addition to covering Georgia’s historic 2020 elections and various aspects of the pandemic, Carr’s work has been rooted in law enforcement and government accountability. In a joint 2020 investigation with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Carr examined physical abuse and sexual misconduct incidents in National Guard youth camps. She was also among the first reporters to take an in-depth look at the initial investigation of Reality Winner, the former Georgia-based NSA contractor who’s serving the longest espionage sentence in U.S. history for leaking Russian election interference documents to the press.

Carr is the recipient of four Southeast Regional Emmy awards, including a 2020 Emmy for investigative reporting. She was also awarded a 2012 fellowship with the International Center for Journalists, which afforded her an opportunity to report on North Carolina’s growing agriculture and furniture export business in China.

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This Security Guard Enforced a School District’s Mask Mandate. He Ended Up Facing a Criminal Charge.

Parents protested a mask mandate at a Webster, New York, school board meeting. After Ken Mancini tried to enforce the policy, a parent he ejected pressed charges for harassment.

How School Board Meetings Became Flashpoints for Anger and Chaos Across the Country

In the first wide-ranging analysis of school board unrest, ProPublica found nearly 60 incidents that led to arrests or criminal charges. Almost all were in suburban districts, and nearly every participant was white.

How Parents Outraged by Library Books, Diversity Initiatives and Sex Ed Transformed One New Jersey School Board

An angry parent confronted a New Jersey school board president, accelerating a chain of events that pushed the board to the right.

He Became Convinced the School Board Was Pushing “Transgender Bullshit.” He Ended Up Arrested — and Emboldened.

Eric Jensen, a parent in North Carolina, had grievances to air about library books “trying to convert kids to gay,” and about mask and vaccine mandates. So he joined an activist group and headed to a school board meeting.

The Student Protesters Were Arrested. The Man Who Got Violent in the Parking Lot Wasn’t.

College students arrested. A parking lot altercation. A retired teacher waking up to a broken window. Events at a school district in Conway, Arkansas, illustrate the alarming trend of unrest at school board meetings across the country.

School District Pays Legal Fees After Banning Mothers From Reading Sexually Graphic Passages at Meetings

The Mama Bears, a group that seeks to ban library books it considers obscene, has settled a federal lawsuit against a Georgia school district after one of the group’s members was barred from reading explicit excerpts at school board meetings.

Mothers Behind Book-Banning Campaign Claim Their First Amendment Rights Are Being Violated

The self-dubbed Mama Bears filed a federal lawsuit alleging that by not being allowed to read sexually explicit material aloud at school board meetings, they themselves are being censored.

School Board Candidates Who Criticized the Hiring of a Black DEI Educator Lose Their Elections

The school board hopefuls were described in a ProPublica story detailing how Cecelia Lewis was attacked in both Cherokee County and neighboring Cobb County by white parents making baseless claims.

Why the Black Educator Forced Out Over Bogus Critical Race Theory Claims Agreed to Share Her Story

ProPublica reporter Nicole Carr explains why educator Cecelia Lewis was hesitant to speak to reporters about white parents forcing her out of her job, and why she ultimately decided she had to.

White Parents Rallied to Chase a Black Educator Out of Town. Then, They Followed Her to the Next One.

Cecelia Lewis was asked to apply for a Georgia school district’s first-ever administrator job devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion. A group of parents — coached by local and national anti-CRT groups — had other plans.

Few Masks. Sick Kids. Packed ERs. How One District’s First Four Weeks of School Went Bad.

In their own words, parents, faculty and a student chronicle the beginning of the school year in Georgia’s Cobb County, where leadership loosened COVID-19 protocols and a wave of children were infected.

Has Your School Had a COVID Outbreak? Is Your District Following CDC Guidelines? Help Us Report.

As the Delta variant spreads across the country, ProPublica is reporting on the health and safety of students. Tell ProPublica whether your school is following CDC guidelines and whether any students, faculty or staff have gotten sick.

My Kids’ School Won’t Reinstate Masks Despite a Recent Surge in COVID Cases. Here’s What I Chose to Do.

Georgia’s Cobb County School District had parents choose between virtual and in-person learning, then lifted its mask mandate. Many families are frantically figuring out how to navigate this reality. ProPublica reporter Nicole Carr is one of them.

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