Teacher Quit Without Notice, School Wants $1,000 Immediately. Worth Fighting?

Location: North Carolina, USA

I’m a teacher who has been working at a toxic school for the last year. I worked my last day yesterday, and I told them that it would be my last day yesterday.

EDIT: It’s a learning center, not a proper school. I was an afterschool program teacher, I was just using the language they tend to use.

My contract says this:

Early Termination
The Contractor agrees to provide at least 30 days’ written notice before voluntarily terminating this Agreement prior to December 31, 2026.

If the Contractor terminates this Agreement without providing the required notice, the Contractor agrees that [SCHOOL] will incur damages that are difficult to accurately calculate, including but not limited to recruiting, onboarding, scheduling, training replacement personnel, and disruption to students and families.

Accordingly, the parties agree that liquidated damages 50% of one month’s base compensation or $1,000, whichever is greater, but not exceeding one month’s compensation, represent a reasonable estimate of those damages and are not intended as a penalty.

[SCHOOL] may offset this amount against any compensation otherwise due to the Contractor, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

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I was told verbally by my boss before I signed this contract that they would be including a clause with a “consequence” if I tried to leave without notice or before the end of the contract period. Another teacher left this week without notice and did not have a clause in her contract about owing money to the school if she left without notice.

Not sure if it’s relevant, but I was a 1099 contractor and I believe I should’ve been a W-2. My boss also had verbally said they have everyone as a 1099 because they can’t “afford for us to be W-2s.”

My questions:

1. Under North Carolina law, is there a realistic argument that this liquidated-damages clause is an unenforceable penalty rather than valid liquidated damages?
2. Does my boss’s statement before signing that the clause was intended as a “consequence” matter to that analysis?
3. Would the possible 1099/W-2 misclassification affect enforcement of this contract provision at all?
4. If I dispute the amount and do not voluntarily pay it, is it unreasonable to make the school pursue the claim in small claims court rather than paying immediately?