Former CMS worker attacked by students settles with district

CHARLOTTE, NC — A former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools worker seen in a video being attacked by students says she’s settled a lawsuit against the school district.

In June 2016, Annette Albright was assaulted by a group of students at Harding High School. In her lawsuit, she claimed she was let go after she filed a workers’ compensation claim.

Speaking with Channel 9 Monday, Albright said she’s happy the legal process is over, but she’s still pushing to make schools safer for teachers and students.

She also said she remembers the assault like it was yesterday.

“I still do not watch the video. I just cannot look at it,” she said.

Albright said the attack left her with a concussion and other injuries.

“What's most hurtful about that day for me was I was there for the students. I was 100-percent committed to the students and just never in my wildest dreams did I imagine anything remotely close to that happening,” she said.

Albright worked as a behavioral modification technician at the school. Documents from the lawsuit said two of the students involved in the fight had just returned to Harding from Turning Point Academy, a temporary alternative school, where they'd been assigned for assault. Now, Albright says she wants more alternatives for kids with discipline problems.

“A lot of kids as part of their probation are sentenced to attend school. Some of those kids have been out six months, a year, year and a half so you're putting back in a traditional setting a student that needs way more structure,” she explained.

Albright also says that she supports the superintendent's push to add more funding for mental health counselors.

We reached out to CMS asking about the settlement. It wouldn't comment.

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