Tech firm blasts Wilcox for seeking job after CMS signed deal with company

An education technology company that provides learning software to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools harshly criticized the district’s former superintendent on Thursday for seeking work with the company.

The remarks came a day after an Observer report detailed how Clayton Wilcox brushed aside the district’s standard contracting process and ordered officials to spend nearly $2 million to put ThinkCERCA in high school classrooms.

Less than a year after he ordered the district to expand the use of ThinkCERCA, Wilcox asked its founder, Eileen Murphy, about becoming the company’s CEO, but she turned him down, the company has said.

In a written statement, ThinkCERCA CEO Walter Sherwood said it would have been wrong for the company to hire Wilcox after Wilcox told district employees to spend public money for the company’s product.

“Considering Clayton Wilcox for the position would have been unethical and would have represented a serious violation of the district’s trust,” Sherwood said.

He added that the company considered it “reprehensible” that Wilcox would use the company’s open position as leverage to benefit himself.

Wilcox did not return phone calls or a text message seeking comment.

His dealings with ThinkCERCA represent the latest controversy since Wilcox resigned in August without public explanation after two years on the job. Current and former CMS officials have previously alleged he made racist and sexist comments and pushed for a company that employed his son to get a deal with the district.

ThinkCERCA, based in Chicago, is an online literacy platform focused on argumentative writing, with a large repository of reading material. The program is often used as a supplement to other reading and writing coursework and can be used with other digital tools.

In March, three CMS school board members approached Wilcox with concerns about his job performance, two district administrators told the Observer. Wilcox told the board members he could leave to become the CEO of ThinkCERCA, the administrators said.

“We pride ourselves on working with educators and partners who share our values and goals, and it is clear that Clayton Wilcox’s behavior does not represent these,” said Sherwood, who was hired as CEO in May. “As such, any relationship ThinkCERCA or its employees had with Clayton Wilcox has been terminated.”