Judge weighs Alamance school board immunity in Cummings stabbing lawsuit
A Burlington student who says she was stabbed nine times at Cummings High is asking a judge to decide whether ABSS can use immunity to avoid trial.
Makiya Bradsher says another student stabbed her nine times in a Cummings High School classroom on Oct. 11, 2022, leaving wounds that needed staples and stitches. She is asking an Alamance County judge to decide whether Alamance-Burlington school officials can avoid the state-court lawsuit over the attack.
Superior Court Judge C. Douglas Green heard arguments Monday on the Alamance-Burlington school board’s motion to dismiss the case. Bradsher, now 21 and living in Burlington, refiled the suit in Alamance County civil superior court in December 2025 after her federal case ran out of road. The original lawsuit was filed in September 2023 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, where Magistrate Judge Joi Elizabeth Peake recommended dismissal in August 2024. Judge Thomas D. Schroeder then dismissed the federal claims in September 2024 and declined to keep the remaining state claims.
On Oct. 11, 2022, Bradsher was sitting in her classroom at Cummings High when another student, Meyka Haith-Herbin, attacked her after repeatedly asking her to be her friend and reacting violently when she refused. The complaint says Haith-Herbin shouted, “Do you want to fight me?” before the stabbing. Bradsher was a thriving student involved in school and extracurricular activities and had been nominated to homecoming court before the assault.
The complaint says Haith-Herbin stabbed her in the head, face and chest, leaving injuries that required four staples in her head and three stitches near her temple. It also says Haith-Herbin had a criminal history that included violence and was on probation when she enrolled at Cummings. The Alamance-Burlington School System and the teacher on duty failed to protect her and did not respond properly once the violence began.
ABSS argues it has not waived governmental immunity, even though it participates in the North Carolina School Boards Trust and has purchased excess liability coverage. State law, including General Statute 115C-42, allows a local board of education to waive immunity by securing liability insurance, while North Carolina School Boards Trust coverage protects member districts and preserves immunity for certain state tort and negligence claims.
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