Wake school board moves former principal’s lawsuit to federal court

The Wake County Board of Education has moved a former principal’s lawsuit against the board to federal court. Scott Lassiter alleges that the board suspended him from his job and forced him to resign to help Democrats in the 2024 election.

Lassiter was the Republican state Senate candidate in District 13. He lost that election to incumbent Democratic Sen. Lisa Grafstein.

The former principal filed suit on July 17 in Wake County Superior Court. The school board filed a notice of removal to federal court on Thursday.

“This action arises under federal law in that plaintiff is seeking, inter alia, legal and/or equitable relief pursuant to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and 42 U.S.C. § 1983,” wrote lawyer Colin Shive, who represents the Wake school board. “Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331,. this Court has original jurisdiction over these claims, making this action removable under 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a).”

Lassiter had served since 2018 as assistant principal at Wake’s Connections Academy, an alternative middle school for students who otherwise who would have faced long-term suspensions from their base school, according to his complaint.

On May 22, 2024, Lassiter and a colleague restrained a student involved in a fight. The student’s adult brother and mother later came to the school and threatened Lassiter. Neither school officials nor law enforcement raised concerns about Lassiter’s actions at the time, according to the complaint.

“For three and a half months after the May 22, 2024 incident, Plaintiff heard nothing from Defendant or its agents until on or about September 5, 2024 when he received a letter from Anthony Muttillo, Assistant Superintendent Human Resources, advising him that he was being immediately suspended,” the lawsuit alleged. “The letter also stated that Muttillo believed that ‘cause may exist for [his] dismissal’ although conceding that additional investigation into the facts was necessary.”

“In 2024 Lassiter was the Republican nominee for North Carolina State Senate in a hotly contested, close political race against the Democrat nominee endorsed and funded by the North Carolina Association of Educators (‘NCAE’), the liberal teachers union in the State,” wrote William “Woody” Webb, Lassiter’s lawyer. “The Democrat party and in particular the NCAE had a vested interest in the success of Plaintiff’s opponent in order to deprive Republicans from having a ‘super majority’ in the State Senate.”

“Upon information and belief, having an experienced, knowledgeable school administrator with Plaintiff’s views and positions on teacher’s and student’s performance and, especially, school safety issues, about which he avidly advocated to those in and out of the school system, was anathema to Democrats and the NCAE,” Webb wrote.

Around the time of Muttillo’s letter, Lassister “was contacted by Kendra Hill (‘Hill’), Employee Relations Director for Defendant and a political operative of the Democrat party, who warned Plaintiff that he should take the weekend and consider resigning and if he did resign, the matter would be all over or if he did not resign, he would face a public termination recommendation to the Board,” according to the lawsuit.

“Upon information and belief, the warning from Hill to resign was in reaction to Plaintiff’s positive polling numbers in his campaign for the State Senate,” Webb wrote. “The alleged misconduct on the part of Plaintiff was leaked to the media about the time of the DPI report in an effort to make Plaintiff look bad.”

The complaint offered further details about reporting of the May 2024 incident to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

“To avoid intense media attention and scrutiny flowing from any alleged misconduct report, Plaintiff agreed to enter into a Confidential Personnel Agreement (‘CPA’), executed on October 6, 2024, by which he voluntarily resigned from his employment with the Wake County Public School System,” Webb wrote. “Defendant knew that the motivating reasons for Plaintiff entering into the CPA was to fully and completely resolve the alleged misconduct matter on a confidential basis, to halt media damage to his potential campaign and to preserve and protect his good name and reputation as well as future employment opportunities in education.”

“Defendant also knew that if it revealed to Plaintiff its intention to report the student altercation situation to the Department of Public Instruction (‘DPI’) for further investigation, Plaintiff would not agree to negotiate or enter into the CPA,” Webb added. “Thus, it failed to disclose to Plaintiff its intention to make a misconduct report about him to the DPI with the goal of fraudulently coercing Plaintiff into an agreement (the CPA) adverse to his interests.”

“To his surprise,” according to the complaint, Lassiter learned that Wake school employees “reported the entire student altercation matter both to the media and, of course, to the DPI in a document entitled ‘Licensed Educator Misconduct Reporting Form’ signed on November 14, 2024, by Jerry Griffith, Senior Administrator for Employee Relations.”

State law required the DPI report within five days of Muttillo’s letter, but it “was delayed for political reasons to coerce Plaintiff to resign in an effort to harm his race for the State Senate,” the lawsuit alleged. “In addition, in similar situations no report was made to the DPI and, thus, Plaintiff had no way of knowing such a report would be made in his case — or used as a political cudgel.”

Lassiter assigned “great significance” to the impact of his school safety complaints.

“Plaintiff both during and before his time at Connections Academy documented extensive school safety issues and made them available to Wake County School officials regarding both the increasing incidences of dangerous student behavior but also the absence of sufficient safety measures at the schools to address persistent violence and safety hazards involving acknowledged troubled students,” according to the complaint. “In fact, for years Lassiter vigorously advocated for School Resource Officers, metal detectors and other security support devices. Plaintiff’s multiple complaints and suggested remedies about the ongoing threats to public health and safety fell on deaf ears and blind eyes notwithstanding Defendant’s full knowledge of the merits of Lassiter’s concerns, which were fully documented and reported.”

“Plaintiff consistently and passionately asserted that some Wake County Public Schools were becoming ‘dumping grounds’ for the area’s unmotivated, troubled and violent children with no real strategy to improve their lot,” the lawsuit continued. “Moreover, his safety concerns for the schools, teachers, and students were a central plank in his political campaign for the State Senate much to the chagrin of the NCAE and the Democrat party.”

The suit alleged fraudulent inducement to enter into the confidential personnel agreement and First Amendment retaliation. He asked to have the agreement thrown out and to return to his job with back pay and benefits, along with damages.

Lassiter had attracted publicity with a 2023 lawsuit alleging that then-House Speaker Tim Moore had broken up Lassiter’s first marriage.

“Wake school board moves former principal’s lawsuit to federal court” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.