WILMINGTON — The New Hanover County School district announced on Saturday it had suspended a teacher earlier this week after criminal allegations were made against him. The district had not responded to questions posed earlier in the week about the teacher.
According to the New Hanover County School (NHCS) district, Williston Middle School teacher William Graham. The 7th-grade social studies teacher was previously named ‘Teacher of the Year’ at Noble Middle School in 2016.
“A criminal allegation has been made against William Graham. Out of an abundance of caution, Williston Middle School teacher, Mr. William Graham was suspended with pay as of February 19, 2020, pending an investigation,” according to NHCS spokesperson Caress Clegg.
Earlier this week, Port City Daily and other media outlets spoke at least one mother who stated she had made an allegation against Graham on behalf of her daughter, and confirmed a New Hanover County Sheriffs Office (NHCSO) detective had been assigned to the case, providing a business card and case number. After multiple reports that Graham had been suspended, Port City Daily emailed NHCS on Thursday asking for confirmation — no response was given, although the district did respond to other queries.
Port City Daily has requested Graham’s employment history, as well as clarification as to whether or not this was an isolated incident or if other complaints had been filed. This article will be updated with that information.
Port City Daily has also confirmed that the Williston teacher is not the same William Graham who appears on the state’s sex offender registry. While it is highly unlikely a registered sex offender would be hired by a school district, the issue has been raised several times on social media. In addition to comparing photographs of the two, they also appear have different middle names: the only two currently licensed NC educators named Williman Graham have the middle names ‘Mark’ and ‘Andrew,’ the registered offender’s middle name is ‘Powers.’
NHCS continues to ask that concerns be directed to law enforcement and the district’s online reporting portal (which can be found here).
“New Hanover County Schools and law enforcement will continue to investigate all allegations and complaints as the safety of our students and the well-being of our school community is our number one priority. Please contact law enforcement immediately if you have information that needs to be reported. Complaints and concerns can also be made with Ethix 360 reporting system,” according to the district.
Send comments and tips to Benjamin Schachtman at [email protected], @pcdben on Twitter, and (910) 538-2001
