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Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n Former Republican state Senate candidate Scott Lassiter has filed a lawsuit accusing the Wake County school system of suspending him from his job as an assistant principal and forcing him to resign to help Democrats in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n Read more $14M project will relieve bottlenecks on a major Lake Norman road, NCDOT says<\/a><\/p>\n In a lawsuit filed Friday in Wake County Superior Court, Lassiter says he was unfairly suspended from his position<\/a> after breaking up a fight at Connections Academy in May 2024. Lassiter accuses the school system of suspending him, leaking the news to the media and pressuring him to resign to hurt his political campaign to help Democrats break the GOP supermajority in the Senate.<\/p>\n \u201cThey wanted that Senate seat very, very badly,\u201d Lassiter\u2019s attorney, Woody Webb Sr., said in an interview Friday with The News & Observer. \u201cIt\u2019s no secret that these educational institutions are fairly Democratic in nature, and I mean the Democratic Party, and his opponent was funded to some extent by the NCAE, which is indisputably a liberal teachers union.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they wanted to make sure that the Republicans could not retain the supermajority.\u201d<\/p>\n Democratic Sen. Lisa Grafstein defeated Lassiter in the District 13 race. But Republicans were able to maintain their legislative supermajority in the Senate.<\/p>\n The Wake County school system denied Lassiter\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe Dr. Lassiter\u2019s claims are without merit, and we are prepared to vigorously defend the school system in court,\u201d Wake said in a statement Friday.<\/p>\n Connections Academy is an alternative school where students are placed before they\u2019re allowed to return to their regular school.<\/p>\n In the lawsuit, Lassiter said on May 22, 2024, he and a Behavior Support Specialist physically restrained a male student who was assaulting a female student and threatening to kill her.<\/p>\n Lassiter said he and the specialist used their training to properly restrain the student and deescalate the situation.<\/p>\n Later that day, the lawsuit says, the male student\u2019s adult brother and mother came to the school and threatened to harm Lassiter. Police came and arrested the brother, who was trying to enter the school.<\/p>\n On Sept. 5, 2024, Lassiter says he was notified in a letter from Wake he was being immediately suspended \u201cas a result of alleged negative physical interaction with a student.\u201d<\/p>\n Soon after the letter, the lawsuit says Kendra Hill, then the district\u2019s employee relations director, contacted Lassiter and told him he should consider resigning or face a public termination record that would be sent to the school board.<\/p>\n \u201cThe warning from Hill to resign was in reaction to Plaintiff\u2019s positive polling numbers in his campaign for the State Senate,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n The lawsuit called Hill a \u201cpolitical operative of the Democratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe allegations and insinuations against me in this lawsuit are not just inaccurate, they are completely false and misleading,\u201d Hill said in a statement Friday.<\/p>\n The lawsuit says that Lassiter entered into a confidential personnel agreement in which he agreed to resign \u201cto avoid intense media attention and scrutiny flowing from any alleged misconduct.\u201d The agreement was executed on Oct. 6 \u2014 three days after the suspension was first reported by media outlets<\/a> and a month before the election.<\/p>\n Read more Crash closes Interstate 85 lanes in Charlotte on Saturday. Traffic at standstill<\/a><\/p>\n The lawsuit charges that Wake \u201creported the student altercation incident to the media to negatively affect his political campaign before the CPA was executed and, in fact, while it was being negotiated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was violating his constitutional rights to engage in political activity,\u201d Webb said. \u201cThey were clearly trying to affect that campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit says Lassiter wouldn\u2019t have agreed to resign if Wake had told him it planned to file a misconduct report with the state Department of Public Instruction.<\/p>\n Webb concedes that the misconduct report is required to be made. But Webb says misconduct reports aren\u2019t always filed and it should have been made back in May 2024 and not in November 2024 after Lassiter agreed to resign.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can confirm that the State Board of Education has not imposed any formal disciplinary sanctions against Mr. Lassiter, and his case has been closed,\u201d Jeanie McDowell, a DPI spokesperson, said in an email Friday.<\/p>\n Webb charges that part of the reason for the district\u2019s actions was retaliation for Lassiter complaining about safety conditions in schools.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaintiff consistently and passionately asserted that some Wake County Public Schools were becoming \u2018dumping grounds\u2019 for the area\u2019s unmotivated, troubled and violent children with no real strategy to improve their lot,\u201d the lawsuit says. \u201cMoreover, 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 (North Carolina Association of Educators) and the Democrat party.\u201d<\/p>\n Lassiter is asking for damages and to get his job back from Wake. Webb said that news about the case has negatively impacted Lassiter\u2019s livelihood.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s affected his job opportunities,\u201d Webb said. \u201cIt\u2019s affected his reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n Lassiter now works for the Division of Services for the Blind at the state Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n Lassiter, a former Apex Town Council member, was previously involved in high-profile litigation with then House Speaker Tim Moore.<\/p>\n In 2023, Lassiter sued Moore, alleging that Moore had a relationship with Lassiter\u2019s then wife, a state employee. Moore admitted to that relationship but denied exchanging political influence for sex. Attorneys for both sides said the lawsuit was resolved<\/a> but did not provide details.<\/p>\n Staff writer Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi contributed.<\/i><\/p>\n This story was originally published July 17, 2026 at 3:20 PM<\/span> with the headline “NC GOP Senate candidate sues Wake schools, says suspension politically motivated.” <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n