THE CASH STUFF FOR APRIL 23, 2026

NCAE CALLING ON 

TEACHERS STATEWIDE

TO WALKOUT ON MAY 1st

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) is calling on all public school teachers across the state to stage a classroom callout and march in Raleigh on May 1st  to demand an increase in public school school funding.

As a result, some school districts will cancel classes for that day due to the expected dearth of educators on the so-called “May Day” mass protest.

The march on the Legislative Building in Raleigh is also a demand for accountability from state lawmakers as to what they have actually done to improve education in North Carolina in recent years.

Because some many teachers are submitting requests to be out on May 1st, which is a Friday this year, many principals across the state are hoping to get enough substitute teachers to fill the void so that they don’t have to close schools down on the day. Some are also changing their teacher workday calendars to accommodate their educators.

So far, however, Guilford County, Chatham County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro school districts have announced that they will be closed on that day. Others are still considering.

In New Hanover County, the school board there rejected a request by the superintendent to close schools on May 1st, after concerns about having enough staff was raised.

“The idea that we would even consider adjusting our calendar to accommodate politically motivated protest is deeply troubling,” said school board member Josie Barnhart. “It sends the message that political pressure is more important than educating students.”

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 NCCU DEALING WITH 

ALLEGED RAPE 

ALLEGATION

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

How does a college or university deal with sexual assault allegations on-campus?

That has been a challenge for co-ed institutions of higher learning for years, and yet a ready, effective solution has rarely been reached. And that fact worries parents who send their students to college, assuming that they are receiving not only the best education, but are being protected effectively.

North Carolina Central University in Durham is the latest institution having to wrestle with this dilemma.

According to an arrest warrant, a 19 year-old former member of the NCCU track and field team is currently being held on $300,000 secured bail for an alleged second-degree forcible rape of a teammate.

Alan Webster III of Fuquay-Varina, a sophomore, has been charged in the alleged January 13 incident, which was reported to NCCU campus police on March 25th. Webster is still enrolled at the university, though he’s no longer a member of the track and field team.

An NCCU spokesperson says the school is rendering support to the alleged victim, who is not identified, an is investigating the allegation. “NCCU has a rigorous Student Code of Conduct, which is being followed in this matter,” the spokesperson continued, noting that while no further information will be provided ‘to protect the rights of the parties involved,” because it is a criminal matter, any further information has to come from the Durham County District Attorney’s Office.

Interestingly, how a college/university handles a sexual assault allegation is governed by federal law, namely Title IX, since the US Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that sexual assault in schools constituted sex discrimination. That law has been redefined during various presidential administrations since then. 

In 2017, the Trump Administration instituted a new Title IX rule that took effect in 2020 that, according to the U.S. Dept. of Education, was to “rebalance the scales of justice” by ensuring due process for both the accused and accuser. To achieve this rebalancing, a new requirement mandated colleges to conduct live hearings and “allow students’ advisers to cross-examine parties and witnesses involved,”and to replace the “single investigator model” with a system requiring three officials to handle different aspects of the case.”

The 2020 Title IX rule also  “…imposed a higher burden of proof for determining guilt in sexual misconduct cases.”

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