School Board Member That Used AI and Plagiarized; Admits She Lied About Earning a Ph.D
Orange County NC school board member Jennifer Moore has resigned, dropped out of her re-election and admitted she never earned a Ph.D.
Jennifer Moore was currently seeking re-election to the Orange County School with the final battle in a run-off election set for May 14th, 2024. Now it has been discovered by several investigative news outlets that Moore fraudulently claimed that she earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Bellevue University in June of 2021. Bellevue University has no record of her as a student or earning a Ph.D. The investigations into her credentials came after it was revealed that she used AI and plagiarism to respond to candidate questionnaires and in interviews.
On April 17th 2024, Moore issued her resignation to the school board, stating that the resignation was due to health issues. The school board voted to accept her resignation on April 22nd 2024. The following day Jennifer Moore issued a letter to the community on her campaign website announcing her resignation and admitted:
“I do not have a Ph.D. I made a mistake and I am very sorry.”
Moore also stated that if she receives the most votes in the run-off election on May 14th, she will not be returning to the school board. Her name will remain on the ballot along with her opponent Bonnie Hauser, as ballots have already been printed and absentee and early voting has already begun.
The news of Moore first earning the now fraudulent Ph.D was shared with the Orange County community by the previous Superintendent, Dr. Monique Felder in emails and celebrated during a school board meeting on June 7th 2021. Dr. Felder shared the title of Moore’s made up dissertation project as, “Implementing Needs Assessment and Task Analysis in NC Public Schools.” Since the announcement of earning the degree and up until now Moore has been referred to as Dr. Moore. Moore also discussed earning her 2021 doctorate in articles for Canvas Rebel, Voyage Raleigh and Shoutout North Carolina.
The smoke and mirrors show continues as Jennifer Moore has published books currently for sale on Amazon using the fraudulent credentials of “Dr. Jennifer Moore”. Moore has also deceived many mental health experts and advocates, like Ron Godfrey, that she has had as guests on her Lennix James Mental Health Podcast.
During Moore’s campaign she was officially endorsed by Orange County Association of Educators (OCAE) ,political action committee Communities Supporting Orange County Schools , Public Schools Strong and Indy Week. She earned more endorsements of support from the local community, to include previous Hillsborough Mayor Jenn Weaver, Orange County School Board member Carrie Doyle, school board candidate Kevin Alston, Jr. , Hillsborough Town Commissioner Matt Hughes and previous Superintendent Monique Felder among others.
Now that Moore has resigned and her degree has been confirmed a lie, she is still being supported by those who endorsed her. Jenn Weaver and Communities Supporting Orange County Schools and those who follow along still plan to vote for Jennifer Moore even though she has dropped out of the election. Weaver publicly stated, “while Jennifer Moore herself will rightly not continue to serve on the Board of Education, and because ballots are already printed, I will fill in the box by her name as an endorsement of that vision and in the hope that we will get a school board that is committed to it.” Communities Supporting Orange County Schools promotes to voters that, “A vote for Moore is a vote against Hauser and a conservative majority. It’s a vote that centers students, it’s a vote that acknowledges what voters originally voted for in March, and it’s a vote that moves Orange County in a better direction.” Additionally, a Facebook post by Carrie Doyle dismisses the concern that Jennifer Moore lied about and faked a degree by subverting the reality and focusing the narrative on elevating, “a related concern that parts of our community have been and continue to be hostile towards Black women in leadership in Orange County Schools.”
Grand statements are being made to defend Moore’s actions in what seems to be a rally cry that she still deserves votes in the run-off election to strategically keep the opponent Bonnie Hauser out. In doing so the reality of what it means to be honest, trustworthy and have integrity are changed in the name of politics. Followers of this rally cry fail to see this as ideological subversion and the demoralization of education.
Does Academic Integrity Still Exist?
Is academic integrity something students should be required to demonstrate when school board members continue to praise Jennifer Moore without condemning her actions of lying, cheating and deceiving the community with a fake degree? Does academic integrity still exist when citizens continue to be encouraged to vote for someone even though the candidate lied and pretended to have a Ph.D while serving the community? The students in the community are watching the behavior of the adults, what messages are they being sent? Clearly the message is that it is okay to lie and cheat in your academics, defraud the community, and earning a Ph.D is not valuable or important. If a school board member has admitted to academic fraud and the community still backs her in an election then the merit based system of academic integrity is over. Education is pointless when you can just make up academic degrees and the community still rallies around you and rebrands deceitful actions as progress.
Local corruption will continue to exist due to a lack of consequences to harmful actions and ideologically subverting the community to look the other way at false perceptions.
Well, well, well...