A Raleigh mother says the charter school she relied on to support her nonverbal, autistic son instead became a place where he was hurt. She alleges a former instructional assistant at PreEminent Charter School abused her child, has pulled him out of the classroom, filed a police report, and is now pushing for an outside review of how the school handles students with special needs.
What the mother says happened
Atoya Barrett told CBS17 that her son repeatedly told her the instructional assistant “is bad and hits him a lot,” despite his being nonverbal and autistic. She said another parent raised similar concerns in December, which she describes as the moment everything shifted. Barrett says she then filed a police report and removed her son from PreEminent, choosing to homeschool him instead.
Parents’ accounts and earlier red flags
Local coverage identifies the boy as 9-year-old Harlem Barrett and notes he is nonverbal and autistic; his mother told The Triangle Tribune he had attended PreEminent for about two and a half years. According to the Tribune, several parents described months of mistreatment, said the special education classroom sometimes did not have a licensed teacher, and pointed to an earlier incident in which a special education teacher was arrested in May 2024 on misdemeanor child abuse charges.
What we know about the school
PreEminent is a K–8 charter school operated by National Heritage Academies. The school’s website lists Stephanie Solomon as principal and gives a Rock Quarry Road address for the campus. Its operations and report card pages show recent D grades on state report cards, and the site lists resources that are described as supporting special education services.
Fight for footage and outside oversight
Barrett told The Triangle Tribune she requested school video and other records, but was told the detective investigating the case was being denied access to the footage. She says she also contacted the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s Office of Charter Schools and was informed the office does not have authority over individual student discipline matters, a response that has done little to reassure worried families.
School response and tight-lipped police
A school spokesperson told CBS17 the employee at the center of the allegations no longer works at PreEminent and said the school “immediately began an investigation.” Raleigh police, citing laws that protect juveniles, said they cannot share details about a case involving a child without a court order. That limitation leaves key questions about what evidence investigators have reviewed unanswered for now.
Parents push for an independent investigation
Barrett says she has become the public face of a group of at least eight parents who are afraid to speak out because they fear retaliation. Local advocates are calling for an independent review of how the school serves children with disabilities. Community members quoted in local reporting argue that nonverbal students are especially vulnerable and say access to school footage and records will be crucial in determining whether additional criminal charges or administrative action are warranted.
Authorities have not said whether charges will be filed. For now, the investigation remains active, and parents say they want clearer oversight of how special education students are protected. This story will be updated as officials release new information.
