Date set for jury trial for Charlotte teacher’s lawsuit related to ‘Dear Martin’ pushback

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A date has been set for a jury to hear the case of a former charter school educator brought against Charlotte Secondary School Inc.

Markayle Gray and his attorneys filed a lawsuit in June 2023 and stated that racial bias played a role in the decision to fire Gray. The trial is scheduled to take place in 2025.

In previous QCN reporting, Gray was hired to teach seventh- and eighth-grade English at the southeast Charlotte charter school in October.

Per the lawsuit, Gray claims he had requested permission from his principal to incorporate the use of the novel “Dear Martin” in his Black History Month curriculum for his seventh-grade English honors students.

The book is a nationally recognized work taught in schools nationwide.

The request to use the book was allegedly approved and, according to Gray’s attorney Artur Davis, was reinforced with enthusiasm from the principal.

Davis has argued that “[Gray’s] core teachings have to be signed off on. When you follow the rules, you don’t expect to be punished.”

The lawsuit states that when the book was to be assigned in January, white parents began to complain about the curriculum.

Davis has argued that the school deviated from it’s normal protocols and terminated a teacher without a history of corrective action.

Court documents filed by legal council for Charlotte Secondary School reveal that the school’s argument is that Gray’s story is misleading.

In their own filings, the attorneys “denied that anyone complained about ‘Dear Martin ,’ and that “a student took a photo of the whiteboard in [Gray’s] classroom showing that [he] was not teaching [English Language Arts]-related content and that this photo was sent to school administration.”

The school’s legal counsel also pushed back on the argument that only parents of a specific race complained about the educator.

Documents state that, “throughout Plaintiff’s employment with Charlotte Secondary, black and white parents and students complained to administrators at Charlotte Secondary about [Gray].”

It’s also stated that, “Charlotte Secondary provided Plaintiff with several chances to improve and provided him with resources aimed at helping him do so, including regular meetings with a teacher-mentor and assistance with developing appropriate lesson plans and modifications to assignments for his special education students.”

Court records indicated that attorneys for Charlotte Secondary School filed a motion to dismiss the charges. That motion was denied.

A scheduling order from Aug. 6, detailed that the discovery phase of the case will need to be done by Jan. 31, 2025.

A date has not been set for oral arguments.

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