First Wake Forest Pride Fest | Civil disobedience at Wake school board meeting | Murky details of candidates suspension as assistant principal
No. 92 — Sep. 29-Oct. 5, 2024
REPORT: Wake Forest Pride Fest
Today, I headed over to downtown Wake Forest to cover the town's first Pride Fest. Although a number of community members addressed the town board about the event, the town clarified that it was a "Community Event" organized by a private organization, not an event organized by the Town of Wake Forest.
For those not familiar with Wake Forest, it was originally founded around the Baptist college now located in Winston-Salem; however, in recent years the town's population has ballooned as a suburb of Raleigh.
Although I didn't observe the same explicit elements as I've covered at other "family friendly" pride events in the Triangle, the event included what looks to be a "Kids Zone" w/ face painting, bouncy slide, etc.
The event didn't seem as big compared to other local pride events I've covered, but there were a whole lot of sponsors and organizations with booths, including the Wake County Libraries and the NC Department of Health and Human Services.
The pride festival was also attended by approximately dozen or two street preachers and counter-protesters with signs at the center of the event, as well as at each entrance.
Some of the attendees ineffectually attempted to drown out the preaching, including drag queen Brian Keith aka "Sister Bea Yourself", a member of the North Carolina chapter of the anti-Christian nun-mocking drag group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. We previously reported on his inclusion in the 2023 Cary Christmas Parade:
ICYMI
On Tuesday, local pastor and nationwide activist John Amanchukwu was removed from the bi-weekly Wake County Board of Education public meeting and escorted out of the building in handcuffs after engaging in "peaceful civil disobedience" in support of a Wake County student who left her public school over "pornographic incestual sexual content" content her class was assigned to read and discuss:
NC Senate candidate suspended as assistant principal - what's going on?
NC Senate candidate suspended with pay from Wake school job. Why is in dispute. - N&O
Senate candidate suspended with pay from school job as district probes role in breaking up fight - WRAL
Scott Lassiter, who was elected as a Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor in 2020 and is running for NC Senate District 13 as a Republican, has been suspended with pay from his role as Assistant Principal at Connections Academy, a Wake County middle school for poorly behaved students.
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The suspension is due to an investigation into Lassiter's conduct during a May 22 incident, and that's about all we know for sure as the spokeswoman for the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) is vaguely disputing the specifics of the account given to the press by Lassiter's lawyer.
According to Lassiter's lawyer, Alicia Jurney, Lassiter and another teacher had to restrain a student who was physically attacking a classmate. Then, later in the day, the students brother (a registered sex offender and alumnus of the school) arrived, attempted to assault Lassiter, and was arrested by the Cary Police.
The investigation into Lassiter was apparently not opened until four months later, when the brother's defense attorney subpoenad the video of the incident.
The WCPSS issued a statement indicating that Jurney's account of the incident was "not consistent" with the district's review, but declined to provide any details. Instead, the statement merely noted 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."
Lassiter's race against Democratic Sen. Lisa Grafstein in Senate District 13 (Southern Wake Count) is rated a "toss-up" district (D+1) in the 2024 Civitas Partisan Index. Grafstein is technically the incumbent in the district; however, at the time of her 2022 election to the seat, the district was composed of an entirely different set of precincts in North Raleigh (Grafstein moved her residence to the new district to retain her eligibility to run).
Lassiter's name may be familiar to some readers in connection to the 2023 scandal in which he sued House Speaker Tim Moore for having an affair with his wife. Although Moore admitted to the years-long adulterous affair, he made the dubious claim that he thought the couple was separated during this period. The lawsuit was settled privately, leaving the more salacious accusations (such as the claim that Moore would engage in orgies with individuals seeking his political favor) unproven.