CMS releases response to leaked letter from fired superintendent’s attorney
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education during an emergency meeting Monday voted 8-1 to release its response to complaints by former Superintendent Earnest Winston’s attorney.
School board members voted to release the CMS letter because a letter from Winston’s attorney, Greg Brock, was released to NPR station WFAE. Board member Ruby Jones, who was the lone dissenting vote, said during Monday’s meeting she shared the letter with the radio station.
“This going back and forth with personnel files serves absolutely nobody,” board chair Elyse Dashew said. “If it wasn’t for the board having to correct the record, we would not be here today. So I am disappointed, but here we are.”
A poor 2020-21 evaluation and a school-board-requested investigation into Winston’s performance led to his firing April 19, according to documents released the same day. The CMS board in a 7-2 vote fired Winston, with board members insisting it was time for a change.
In a motion Monday to release the CMS letter, board member Rhonda Cheek said Brock’s letter contained “inaccurate statements and assumptions made by Mr. Winston’s attorney,” forcing the school board to release its April 9 letter in response. Brock had written that the CMS board interfered “with the administrative responsibilities assigned solely to the Superintendent.”
“These documents were confidential personnel records but one of our board members has chosen to release it for what she said she wanted a wider knowledge of what occurred and some perspective of how undeserving the process of firing the superintendent was,” Cheek said. “Well, I think that we’re going to hopefully let the public know exactly (how) the board did act in compliance.”
The CMS response by General Counsel André Mayes said the board acted within its authority when supervising Winston.
According to Mayes’ letter, Brock said on several occasions the board suggested Winston leave. But Mayes said it wasn’t the board who first raised the prospect of Winston leaving the district.
“It was the Superintendent’s coach, Robert Avossa, who initially raised voluntary separation with the Board Chair,” Mayes wrote.
She also countered Brock’s claim in the March 30 letter that Winston’s offer to resign was “still on the table.”
“The Superintendent and you made it crystal clear to me that his offer was off the table,” Mayes wrote. “Three Board members, who were representing the entire Board, recently met with the Superintendent to share the Board’s continuing concerns with the Superintendent’s performance and to see if he was willing to resume discussions regarding a mutual separation. The Superintendent, as did your March 30, 2022, communication, made it clear that he wants to remain in his position and does not wish to engage in discussions regarding a mutual separation.”
Jones said during Monday’s meeting that, while she shared Winston’s letter with his permission, Dashew “might as well have spit in my face” after she “brought all this ballyhoo to outside sources to say that Earnest was a good man but not a competent man.”
“(For) 52 years I have been in the education business, and this has been one of the low points,” Jones said. “As a board member, we were dedicated to positively move our Black children forward academically, behaviorally and emotionally. This act set our work back.”
Specific accusations
In her letter to Brock, Mayes cited North Carolina state law that gives local boards of education “general control and supervision of all matters pertaining to the public schools in their respective administrative units.”
Brock in his letter accused the board of interfering with Winston’s role when it required scheduled meetings among the school board’s three direct reports: general counsel, chief compliance officer and superintendent, according to Mayes’ letter.
But Mayes countered that Winston’s contract stated that he would work collaboratively with the general counsel. Mayes’ contract states that she work collaboratively with the superintendent. In a memo to Winston dated Dec. 3, the board outlined board expectations for the superintendent, WFAE reported. Those expectations included Winston hold regular meetings with the general counsel and chief compliance officer to strengthen communication and relationships.
“In fact, the three of us were meeting on a regular basis prior to the Board’s December 3, 2021, communication to the Superintendent,” Mayes wrote.
Brock, in his letter, also asserted the board directed Winston to either “terminate or reassign his Chief of Staff,” who at the time was LaTarzja Henry.
Mayes contends the board never directed Winston to terminate Henry.
“The Chief of Staff’s contract, like all executive contracts, are with the Board, which means only the Board can terminate the contract,” Mayes wrote. “Additionally, the Chief of Staff’s contract, like all executive contracts, states, ‘[a]t anytime during the Term, the Superintendent or the Board may, without cause or explanation, reassign the Associate Superintendent to a position with the Board other than the position of Associate Superintendent.’”
According to Mayes’ letter, the board shared concerns about Henry with Winston and asked Winston to “initiate reassignment by Dec. 31, 2021.”
This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 4:57 PM.
CORRECTION: This article was updated to remove an inaccurate statement about LaTarzja Henry’s employment status. She remains employed by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in a role other than chief of staff.
