A Wake County candidate for the state legislature has been suspended with pay from his job at a public middle school after a fight between students touched off a series of incidents at the school, according to the candidate’s lawyer.
But Wake County Public School’s says the story of what happened as told by Scott Lassiter and his attorney is not consistent with its review.
Lassiter, an assistant principal at Connections Academy, was suspended with pay on Sept. 5, according to records shared by Wake schools spokeswoman Lisa Luten.
Luten said she was unable to share why he was suspended due to state personnel laws and student privacy laws.
Lassiter, a Republican vice chair of the Wake soil and water conservation district and former Apex town council member, is running against incumbent Democratic Sen. Lisa Grafstein to represent Senate District 13.
Last year, Lassiter sued House Speaker Tim Moore, alleging that Moore had a relationship with his then wife, a state employee. Moore admitted to that relationship but denied exchanging his political influence for sex. Attorneys for both sides said the lawsuit was resolved but did not provide details.
School fight
On May 22, Lassiter and a teacher at Connections Academy “were put in the unfortunate position of having to intervene in a violent altercation between two students,” said Lassiter’s attorney, Alicia Jurney, in a text to The News & Observer.
The N&O has been unable to reach the teacher.
One student “physically attacked” another student while in class and subsequently “ attempted to physically attack” the student again, Jurney said. A teacher, aware of the fight and “afraid” of anyone being injured, ran after the student who attacked. As he “was attempting to restrain” this student, the teacher and the student “ fell to the ground,” Jurney said.
There was no school resource officer or security personnel present, Jurney said.
The teacher took the student to the counselor’s office, where Lassiter and the teacher “tried to calm the student down” but the student “was hitting and punching them” and attempting to get back to the other student, she said.
Ultimately, Lassiter and the teacher took the student “by each arm, and they tried to lead the student out of the school,” she said. Lassiter took the student “through both sets of doors and put her outside,” Jurney said. Throughout this, the student continued “fighting and violently resisting” and the “student lost balance when released by” Lassiter and the teacher, Jurney said.
After this, the student sat in the parking lot for a few seconds before getting up and trying to get back in the school, hitting and kicking the door “so forcefully” that the frame broke, Jurney said. Throughout this, the student kept shouting “death threats” at the other student, she said.
Asked about his suspension, Lassiter told The N&O that “unfortunately, our school employees are all too often called to put themselves in harm’s way to protect other students and staff and this was an incident in which I myself and a veteran teacher were doing just that. Fortunately, no one got hurt.”
Jurney said that the school resource officer position at Connections Academy — which is classified as an alternative learning program, or a school which serves children at risk of truancy, academic failure and more — has not been filled for seven years, despite requests.
“Children deserve to go to school and learn — and teachers need to go to school and teach — free from violence of any kinds. It’s a shame that educators are continually having to fill in that gap to handle violent situations,” said David Capen, a spokesman for Lassiter’s campaign.
The N&O has reached out to Luten about school resource officers.
Following Lassiter’s version of events being published on Thursday, Luten said Friday that “while district practice is not to disclose details of personnel matters for confidentiality reasons, we can share that we have reviewed the account Mr. Lassiter’s attorney submitted, and it is not consistent in a number of ways with our review. “
“Additionally, while I cannot give details about any specific case, I can tell you that the school system often receives subpoenas and court orders for records, and we do not suspend employees based solely upon a request for records,” she said.
She also said that attorneys had reviewed whether any exemptions applied to disclose information — such as the integrity exemption — or if any redactions could be made to provide records, but that “at this point, the statement that we’ve provided is where we are.” She would not provide details on whether any of what Lassiter had recounted was valid.
Criminal case
After this series of events, Jurney said that the student contacted an adult, who “came to the school later in the day“ and “attempted to physically attack” Lassiter.
Wake County Superior Court records show the adult faces criminal charges and appears to be the student’s brother. Documents in that case show that on May 22, a warrant for the brother’s arrest was issued. Offenses listed under that warrant are for a sex offender unlawfully being on premises with children, such as a school, and for resisting a public officer.
Notes in court records say the brother is a registered sex offender who went to Connections Academy.
The brother “was wearing (a) face mask and walked around the school apparently looking for (a) side or rear entrance since officers were in front.”
The case is pending.
Cary police also shared with The N&O the report for an incident reported at 9:33 a.m. on May 22. This report does not have many details on the incident, but shows that parties involved in it included Lassiter, the teacher who intervened, two unnamed juveniles and Stacey Wilson-Norman, chief of academic advancement for the Wake County Public School System. The victim is listed as the state of North Carolina.
Jurney said the adult “tore his shirt off and ran aggressively towards Dr. Lassiter, who was in fear of an imminent attack.”
Cary police detained the adult before he reached Lassiter, she said. After a review of video footage, Lassiter and the teacher were not charged with any offense, and the “school system was aware of the incident and didn’t take any action against” either of them then, she said.
Subpoena and suspension
But, in September, in connection with the pending criminal charges against the adult, his defense attorney served Lassiter a subpoena for video footage of the incident, Jurney said.
Lassiter provided the subpoena to the principal, and after receiving it, the school district put him on administrative leave with pay and opened an investigation, she said.
Court records show that on July 17, a motion for discovery was filed by the brother’s defense attorney. That motion requests that Wake County’s district attorney’s office provide files of law enforcement agencies involved, any oral statements alleged to have been made by the defendant, and notice of any expert witnesses expected to be called upon at trial.
The N&O was unable to reach the defense attorney by telephone and email.
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