CMS calls emergency meeting as leave requests mount for May 1 NC educator protest
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has called an emergency meeting to change its calendar after more than 1,875 district employees requested leave for May 1.
Educators from around the state plan to march in Raleigh next Friday, demanding more state investment in public education. The rally is organized by the North Carolina Association of Educators.
The demonstration comes one month after the NC Supreme Court overturned a 2022 decision in the 32-year-old Leandro case that would’ve required the state to transfer hundreds of millions in additional dollars to public schools.
Meanwhile, North Carolina remains the only state in the country to not have passed a budget for the current fiscal year, which began in July. Without one, state employees like public school teachers have gone without a state pay raise this school year.
At least seven of the state’s 115 school districts have announced they’re closing on May 1 because of the rally. The only local district that has so far announced an optional teacher workday on May 1 is Kannapolis City Schools.
CMS hasn’t announced plans to close for the day, but the district told The Charlotte Observer Thursday that the board “will hold a virtual Emergency Meeting on Friday, April 24, 2026 at 11:30am” in order to “consider a modification to the 2025-2026 Academic Calendar.”
As of Wednesday, 1,875 CMS teachers had already requested leave for May 1, according to public records. There are around 9,000 total teachers in the district. On May 1 last year, for comparison, there were 1,210 teacher absences.
Several CMS schools started rejecting leave requests for May 1 out of concern there will not be enough staff, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators President Amanda Thompson told the Observer in an email Thursday.
Teachers at Ardrey Kell High School in south Charlotte learned Wednesday afternoon that May 1 leave request approvals would be paused.
“This decision is being made out of concern for overall staffing and coverage in the building,” Ardrey Kell Principal Susan Nichols told staff in an email obtained by the Observer via a public records request. “I also need to ensure that we are able to provide appropriate instruction as well as adequate student supervision and safety throughout the day.”
Supporters of the protest in Raleigh are concerned with an inconsistent response to requests around the district.
“Our worry is that CMS received suppressed numbers due to principals handling this situation differently versus supporting educators advocating for our schools and students,” Thompson said.
Among other local districts, only Union County Public Schools has so far responded to the Observer’s questions about its May 1 plans. UCPS had received 304 leave requests for May 1 by early Thursday afternoon and plans to continue to operate on a normal schedule next Friday, a district spokesperson said.
This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 12:48 PM.
