Elite Washington, D.C., parenting circles were rocked late last year, in the week before Thanksgiving. A head of school at one of the top preschools in Washington was arrested and charged with sex crimes against children. The married father of two, James S. Carroll, age 55, was charged with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.
The investigation into Carroll was launched after an employee of the messaging platform Discord reported the upload of a suspected file containing child sexual abuse material to its servers on Sept. 11. By analyzing IP data and phone records, investigators traced the origin of the content to an account associated with Carroll’s home and workplace.
His workplace was the National Child Research Center, a prestigious early childhood education institution in Washington. Founded in 1928, it is one of the oldest cooperative preschools in the United States. NCRC is a feeder school to some of the most prestigious schools in the area. Parents angling to get their children into the Ivy League in the D.C. area believe the road starts at preschools such as NCRC. The selling point for NCRC, at which tuition is as high as $42,000 annually for a full-time enrolled student, is the fact that it has cultivated strong connections with elite private and public elementary schools in the region, including Sidwell Friends, where former President Barack Obama’s daughters were enrolled, Georgetown Day School, St. Albans, National Cathedral School, Maret, and others. In an area where status and connections are everything, these schools are a manifestation of and vehicle not just for student advancement but also for their parents’ ambition.
Which is perhaps what makes the arrest of Carroll that much more shocking: With wealth, it is assumed, comes an expectation of protection. Far from protected, the parents whose children were exposed to Carroll feel a justified, deep sense of revulsion at the charges leveled against him. According to an affidavit filed by prosecutors after Carroll’s arrest, Carroll would discuss with other Discord users about child sexual exploitation in graphic detail, too disturbing to describe in these pages. Of particular concern to parents, the affidavit also states that Carroll said he was interested in “boy pics” and that his age preference was “8-12.”
After the investigation was launched following the tipoff from Discord, between Nov. 5 and Nov. 14, Carroll used the app to communicate with an undercover officer who posed as the father of a 9-year-old boy. Carroll repeatedly directed the “father” to abuse his child and asked for “any new pics” as they engaged in disturbing conversations about the sexual abuse.
Carroll had worked in childhood education for some time and was a third grade teacher at another school, Beauvoir, alongside a now-notorious sex offender, Eric Toth. Toth is serving a 25-year sentence after spending five years on the run and even spent time on the FBI‘s Most Wanted list. His image was splashed across Times Square, and a nationwide manhunt was conducted after he was charged with child pornography after images were found on a camera by a colleague at the elite school.
Following Carroll’s arrest, a local anonymous mother message board, DC Urban Moms, lit up with the news. One mother commented, “He’s a total creep and I worked with him. I never understood how he was promoted to the roles he took on. Unbelievable. And TOTALLY BELIEVABLE.” Another remarked, “Terrifying to think a predator like this had access to young children including mine. I never liked him but couldn’t articulate precisely why. He had a kind of coldness and a streak of hostility. I remember other Beauvoir parents telling me how wonderful and kind he was.”
A parent of a child formerly at the school told me that while many families, including her own, were uncomfortable with Carroll, “everyone shuts up and puts up” because they want to stay in the pipeline that NCRC feeds into for elite elementary, middle, and high schools, leading to the Ivy Leagues.
This parent painted a picture of a school fixated on indoctrinating students in radical woke ideology. Parents were never referred to as “mom” and “dad” but instead were called “grown-ups.” The school did not celebrate any holidays, not Mother’s or Father’s Day, Christmas or Hanukkah, Halloween or Thanksgiving. The one exception was Pride Month. It was the biggest event of the school year and even featured a drag queen who was brought in to read to the 2-year-olds. Venus Valhalla, or Ms. Venus, is featured on Instagram in a blonde wig, full makeup, red corset and elbow-length gloves, black underwear, and a whip.
An email sent to families after the school’s Pride on the Playground celebration explained, “We were delighted with the playground being decorated with rainbow hearts, rainbow flags, and all things glittery and sparkly. The children were provided with dress-up items, shimmering tattoos, and dazzling beads.” The email went on, “We had a wonderful guest storyteller, Ms. Venus, who delighted the children with her super-glamorous costume and enthusiastic storytelling skills.” NCRC did not respond to a request for comment.
The heavy emphasis on Pride Month, to the exclusion of every other holiday, sent a message to these young students: The celebration of sexuality is sacred. Religious observation was cast aside, but so too were other holidays that were rooted in American traditions and family values. Even celebrations that highlighted actual diversity, such as Cinco de Mayo and Lunar New Year, were cast aside. The only aspect of their identity as preschoolers worthy of celebration is their sexuality. For children still in diapers, that’s a radical and dangerous assertion.
The Washington Examiner obtained a video recording of a meeting between the school’s director, Judith Wides, known as Ms. Judith to families, and a group of parents. On the recording, Wides explains, “We try really hard in the classroom not to say, ‘All the boys line up by the sink, and all the girls line up by the sand table.’ What we try to do is to stick to things like, ‘If you’re wearing green today, line up to take a turn at the potty. But sometimes what we’ll do is say, ‘If you feel if you’re a girl today, you can go get your snack from your cubby. If you’re feeling more like a boy today, you can go get your snack from your cubby.’” She went on to explain, “Children as young as 18 months have been known to start to express that they feel one gender or another gender. I’ve been at NCRC since 2013, and I can tell you there have been many children who have come through our doors who, at 2 years old, already are feeling like ‘I’m a boy’ or ‘I’m a girl’ regardless of what their body is.”
One of the final straws for the family I spoke with was when their 3-year-old son came home one day donning pigtails in his hair. When asked why, the youngster explained, “They were doing a demonstration in class about how you can look one gender on the outside and feel like another on the inside. It didn’t matter what you looked like on the outside, but what mattered was how you felt inside.” His mother fumed, “Why are teachers even touching children’s hair?”
During an annual auction held by the school to raise money, one of the auction items was the “opportunity” for Wides to come to your home, read a student a bedtime story, and tuck the student in. The school’s counselor and director was selling the ability to violate boundaries and come into a child’s bedroom, and parents bid for the opportunity.
NCRC parents didn’t just allow but paid for school officials to violate boundaries and delegitimize their role as parents. Designated as mere “grown-ups,” parents and the critical role they play as caregivers and protectors were downgraded in the eyes of their own children. The school didn’t just distance children from their parents but from religious and cultural traditions as well. This is a common tactic for those grooming children for sexual abuse. Signs of grooming for sexual abuse can be subtle and may vary, but common indicators include isolation, gradual crossing of boundaries, and trust building.
On its website, NCRC prides itself on its progressive approach, using code words such as “inclusive” and “diverse” liberally. On its website, a diversity statement explains, “National Child Research Center (NCRC) promotes and respects diversity, equity, and community through our commitment to foster empathy and respect for others in an environment that affirms all identities.”
The schools it feeds into are similarly situated on the ideological spectrum. Beauvoir, where Carroll (and Toth) were teachers, proclaims in a DEI statement on its website:
“Beauvoir is deeply committed to creating an equitable community for all that values and respects families, faculty and staff of all faiths (or none), family structures, sexual orientations, gender identities, and racial, ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
In order to sustain an equitable community for all, we understand the need to educate and support the learning of each of our community members. Beauvoir has a full-time Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion who continues to support our personal and professional development as well as our continued evaluation of our culture, policies and practices.”
The link between diversity, equity, and inclusion and gender ideology lies in their shared focus on promoting acceptance and inclusivity, particularly for people with what they call diverse gender identities. DEI initiatives often incorporate trainings, policies, and practices to promote acceptance of gender transition, pronoun use, and the creation of gender-neutral spaces. In short, DEI and gender ideology go together like peas and carrots.
Parents at NCRC and Beauvoir are rightly in shock that this kind of evil could have been lurking at their children’s schools. But there is a critical lesson to be learned and internalized not just by these elite parents but every parent: It is not a coincidence that schools obsessed with childhood sexuality were a haven for pedophiles. Adults consumed with the sexuality of young children should be looked upon with suspicion. No adult would think about children as sexual beings unless they view them as sexual beings. Carroll and Toth were attracted to these schools because they knew they could make the most of the opportunities available there.
Over the past decade, as these ideologies have gained prominence, people have been pressured into silence and compliance. This radical agenda, designed to intimidate and silence dissent, suppresses the instinctive warning signals we feel when confronted with predatory behavior. Under normal circumstances, anyone discussing or introducing sexual topics to young children would trigger an immediate alarm, but within the framework of this ideology, that alarm is muted out of fear of being labeled intolerant or regressive.
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In debates, conservatives have frequently used the term “groomer” to disparage those who support gender ideology. However, the term is neither a joke nor a hyperbole. Presumably unintentionally, progressive schools have created environments conducive to pedophiles, facilitated by grooming tactics embedded in their administrative practices.
This ideology has undeniably put children at risk in these elite Washington-area schools. Even with Carroll and Toth now in prison, the danger persists as long as these institutions continue to embrace such practices. Parents must recognize the inherent danger of schools captured by this ideology and accept that no opportunity is worth compromising their children’s physical and emotional well-being.
Bethany Mandel (@bethanyshondark) is a homeschooling mother of six and writes and podcasts at The Mom Wars. She is the bestselling co-author of Stolen Youth.