Mother tells former CHCCS principal in court ‘there’s a special place in hell for you’
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- The mother alleged her daughter was sexually abused at Frank Porter Graham Elementary.
- The mother walked off the stand during trial Wednesday after a heated cross-examination.
- The mother told former FPG principal in court “there’s a special place for hell” for her.
A mother who testified that a Chapel Hill elementary school failed to address her daughter’s report of being sexually assaulted stormed out of the courtroom in tears before she was permitted to leave the stand Wednesday.
The mother — who The News & Observer is not naming because it could identify her daughter — is one of several parents whose children attended Frank Porter Graham Bilinguë Elementary School and are represented in an Orange County lawsuit in which former FPG parent and speech language pathologist Rebecca Fox alleged that her daughter and others were assaulted by fellow students and a substitute teacher. Fox has spoken publicly about the case.
Fox, the guardian ad litem for her child and two other alleged victims, sued Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS), former FPG principal Emily Bivins and former FPG Spanish teacher Pablo Valencia. The lawsuit alleges Bivins failed to report sexual abuse incidents to law enforcement and that all of the defendants failed to implement stronger safety measures after the incidents.
“All defendants engaged in a coordinated pattern of concealing sexual abuse, failing to report and creating a culture of silence that harmed all plaintiffs,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of gross negligence, failure to comply with public records laws, negligent infliction of emotional distress, loss of consortium and negligent supervision and retention. The plaintiffs are seeking at least $25,000 in damages, reimbursement for private school tuition fees and medical costs and the immediate production of all public records requests.
A federal court judge dismissed a similar lawsuit in November 2022. Fox filed the current lawsuit in Orange Superior Court in April 2025. CHCCS denied any wrongdoing through district spokesperson Andy Jenks on Monday, The News & Observer reported.
No criminal charges have been filed against the defendants.
The school district also did not report any assaults or sexual offenses committed against students at FPG between 2011 and 2021, according to annual reports filed with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, The N&O previously reported.
Inappropriate touching alleged
The mother testified through tears Tuesday about how what her daughter experienced at FPG “changed her.” The mother testified that a boy inappropriately touched her daughter under the slide while at recess.
The mother alleged that then-principal Bivins interviewed her daughter about the allegation without the mother’s consent. She said that after asking her daughter how her family touched her, Bivins contacted Child Protective Services, which opened a sexual abuse case against the mother. That case is now closed, she testified.
On Wednesday, during cross-examination, defense attorney Alayna Poole — representing Bivins, CHCCS and Valencia — pressed the mother repeatedly to confirm she was not present for her daughter’s interview. The mother took exception to the framing of Poole’s questions — insisting her daughter and she never kept secrets — before confirming she wasn’t there.
Tensions boiled over when Poole asked the mother about her previous encounters with CPS. The plaintiffs’ attorney Shayla Richberg objected, and Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour sustained the objection.
During the redirect examination, the defense objected to one of Richberg’s questions, but the mother continued to answer. Baddour told the mother she could not answer questions to which an attorney objected, but the mother insisted she was comfortable answering and went back and forth with the judge.
Baddour told the mother that rules prevented her from answering Poole’s questions. The mother cut him off and said the rules were there to protect the school and Baddour is “from here,” suggesting Baddour was protecting the school.
Richberg interjected and asked for a recess, which Baddour denied. Before Richberg could finish her redirect, the mother got up and walked off the stand, tissue in hand and visibly upset. As she left the courtroom of the Orange County Historical Courthouse, the mother turned to Bivins who was sitting to the left of her defense attorneys.
“You wrong, Ms. Bivins,” the mother said. “And there’s a special place in hell for you, baby.”
An Orange County sheriff’s deputy and Richberg’s assistant briefly left the courtroom to tend to the mother. A woman could be heard crying outside the courtroom.
This story was originally published April 1, 2026 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Mother tells former CHCCS principal in court ‘there’s a special place in hell for you’."
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