CMS expects to name new superintendent during meeting next week, officials say
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education is expected to name the district’s new superintendent during a public meeting next week, a school board member and senior CMS official told The Charlotte Observer Thursday.
Board members finished up second round interviews of four finalists Sunday and met Monday to review those interviews. A decision next week could end a monthslong search that kicked off Jan. 2. The search drew dozens of candidates from across the country and several who are already serving in superintendent roles.
The board is still working to finalize a decision, including conducting background checks, but members should be ready to vote next week, said school board member Summer Nunn, who also chairs the superintendent search committee.
Nunn says board members, however, have not offered anyone a contract, and no one has accepted a contract.
“Until board (members) raise their hand, the concept that somebody is hired is simply not accurate,” Nunn said.
Crystal Hill is the district’s interim superintendent — a position she took in December after Hugh Hattabaugh announced he wouldn’t finish his contract. CMS is looking for its sixth full-time superintendent since 2011.
Peter Gorman left the job in 2011. Heath Morrison served as superintendent between 2012-2015. He was followed by Ann Blakeney Clark (2015-1017), Clayton Wilcox (2017-2019) and Earnest Winston (2019-2022).
CMS superintendent candidates
The board hired BWP & Associates to oversee the search, conduct dozens of community engagement sessions and create a leadership profile of who the next superintendent should be.
BWP & Associates told the board at its meeting in April a total of 49 people applied from 18 states. Of those, 19 candidates are in superintendent roles, five are assistant superintendents, four candidates are principals and three are business, community or political leaders, among others.
From those 49 applications, BWP & Associates narrowed the field to the six. Board members narrowed that list to four at the beginning of May.
“What was very important to us was someone who was focused on student outcomes and performance,” school board vice chair Stephanie Sneed told the Observer. “We are pleased with the fact all four finalists met this goal.”
Search conducted in private
Board members conducted all candidate interviews in closed session — a move that has drawn criticism from some in the community. But it’s also backed by legal precedent.
Leanne Winner, executive director of the North Carolina School Board Association, told the Observer that superintendent applications are considered a confidential personnel record and are protected under the state’s public records law.
Winner said the law also makes it clear that interviews are not open, either.
Nunn told the Observer in a previous interview CMS cannot unilaterally release applicant names or hold these interviews in public because “doing so would weaken our applicant pool,” she said.
