New details emerge in Heath Morrison’s resignation

Interviews with several Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board members and the district’s general counsel have shed new light on a tumultuous month that ended with the resignation of Superintendent Heath Morrison.

Coupled with a report about Morrison’s alleged conduct the Observer obtained last week, the information provides the clearest glimpse to date on how the board handled allegations that Morrison misled them about the cost of a project at UNC Charlotte and that he bullied staff.

New details include that an outside attorney who has worked for the district for about two decades said he would have to quit because he felt he could no longer provide legal services in “an effective and ethical manner.”

The interviews also indicate that Morrison offered to resign before the board could decide on whether to fire him.

The timeline of events raises questions about how candid the board was with the public. Members of the legal community have also questioned whether CMS should have brought in outside counsel to handle the investigation.

But the board members involved also say they tried to act in a manner that would cause the minimum amount of disruption to the district while following their contract with Morrison to the letter.

Morrison declined to answer specific questions for this story. He would only reiterate that his focus is on taking care of his family.

Anonymous calls

The inquiry into Morrison began in the first week in October when general counsel George Battle III received allegations about Morrison’s conduct, Battle said. Two were anonymous calls and were unspecific in their claims. Another person approached Battle at around the same time.

And on Oct. 10, Kevin Bringewatt, a real estate lawyer who has worked with the school district for about 20 years, spoke to Battle about “serious concerns” that made him uncomfortable from an ethical standpoint, Battle said.

Bringewatt said Wednesday that he had already written a letter saying it was “no longer possible for me to provide legal services to CMS in an effective and ethical manner.” He told Battle he felt he needed to resign. Bringewatt declined to detail to the Observer the concerns he had.

Battle, too, declined to describe the allegations from any of the sources.

But the report summarizing Battle’s later interviews delves into two topics: a small magnet school building at UNC Charlotte and Morrison’s personal conduct.

The report states that Morrison led the board to believe the full impact of the UNCC project would be as little as $35,000. It ultimately ran to several million dollars. The report also says that Bringewatt was interviewed about the UNCC project. Bringewatt later conducted interviews with other CMS administrators about the project for the report. He was involved in six of the 13 interviews.

The report also includes nearly a dozen anecdotes from Morrison’s assistant, Debi Baker, where Baker said Morrison would bully her at work and drive her to tears on a daily basis.

More interviews

After speaking with Bringewatt, Battle began interviewing other members of the CMS executive staff. Battle’s report indicates he spoke with Deputy Superintendent Ann Clark in one of his first interviews. She said there was a “culture of fear” among Morrison’s staff, the report states.

After conducting several interviews with administrators, Battle began meeting individually with board members in mid-October. Most of those conversations took place between Oct. 20 and Oct. 24. Some of the talks lasted up to three hours, delving into what options the board had going forward and what legal risk the district faced, Battle said.

The school board leadership told Battle he should keep digging, school board members said. And over the course of the next several weeks, Battle conducted more interviews with CMS staff. Battle said he had two rules: People he interviewed must be willing to attach their name to their allegations and be willing to be questioned by the school board. It’s unclear whether school board members talked to anyone directly.

Between Oct. 15 and Oct. 31, Battle and two other attorneys spent a combined 200 hours on the investigation, Battle said. The full board discussed the allegations for the first time in a closed session after the board’s regular meeting Oct. 28 at Garinger High School.

At the meeting, which lasted until about 11 p.m., Battle presented the information gleaned from his interviews. The board then asked Battle to put his findings in writing.

Board member Rhonda Lennon told the Observer that based on what she had heard through the Oct. 28 meeting, she felt terminating Morrison’s contract was “the appropriate step.”

The board as a whole was not yet ready to vote on how to proceed, but members set a closed meeting date for Oct. 31 before a scheduled work session.

Outside counsel?

At some point in the process, there was discussion among board members about whether it would be appropriate to bring in an outside attorney to finish investigating Morrison.

They decided against it for several reasons, Battle and several board members said. Doing so, they argued, would have required putting Morrison on suspension with pay, which would have caused disruption within the district.

They also felt investigating allegations like this is part of Battle’s job. Battle reports to the board directly, not to the superintendent.

William Rikard, an attorney with Parker Poe and a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board chairman, said he thinks the board should have brought in attorneys to take over the investigation.

“I think it’s always better to have totally independent counsel do something that sensitive,” he said.

Breaking the news

The day after the Oct. 28 meeting, board Chairwoman Mary McCray and Vice Chairman Tim Morgan met with Morrison. It’s still unclear what was said. Morgan deferred comment to McCray. McCray did not respond to messages seeking comment.

But by the next day, Morrison was considering leaving the job.

Washington, D.C., attorney Maree Sneed, representing Morrison, called Battle that Thursday evening, Oct. 30, saying Morrison would offer his resignation.

That evening, couriers took copies of Battle’s report to the homes of board members.

A call from Sneed to Battle early Friday offered more details about the resignation offer. Sneed did not return a call requesting comment.

Battle and board members said they never formally proposed offering severance.

The board met again early Friday and was presented with the resignation offer. There was some discussion about whether to accept it or to pursue terminating his contract anyway.

“I myself thought, this man has chosen to resign,” Lennon said. “I am going to honor that request.”

The termination agreement continued to be negotiated over the weekend. On Monday morning, news leaked that Morrison would leave his job. Monday evening, the school board distributed a brief statement saying Morrison would resign and that the board respected his decision to “put family first.”

The separation agreement wasn’t fully hammered out until Thursday, when the board met again. The final vote was 6-3 in favor of accepting his “voluntary resignation.”

What comes next

The timeline of events has continued to spark some disagreement among board members about what should be done next.

Board member Eric Davis said he would support bringing in outside attorneys at this point to evaluate how it was handled.

“I believe it’s important as part of restoring the public trust as well as learning from this experience to review the steps that brought us to this point,” he said. He said that could include changing how the superintendent’s performance is evaluated.

Lennon said that things could have been handled better at the time but that the board is committed to being transparent.

“I will go on record as saying we have not been doing a great job on communication,” Lennon said. “We’re a board; we’re not a communications team.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2014 at 10:20 PM with the headline "New details emerge in Heath Morrison’s resignation."