This article originally appeared in Ann Doss Helms’ newsletter and has been updated with new developments.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board is finishing closed-door interviews with six superintendent candidates this week, with plans to narrow the field and do second interviews next week. The goal is to hire a new “visionary leader” by May 9.
But last week’s preparatory meeting between the school board and its search consultants has raised questions about the board’s screening priorities. Monday morning, a group of African American faith leaders urged the board to start over.
“Our ask is that the board go back to the drawing board and place a top priority on selection of a superintendent with a proven track record for improving academic outcomes,” said Rev. Jordan Boyd of the African American Faith Alliance.
The board got mixed signals about academic data in its April 17 meeting with BWP & Associates, the Illinois-based search firm. They’re all working from a leadership profile the board developed after many rounds of public discussion. That profile opens with a call for “a visionary leader that has a proven track record of transformational outcomes to ensure students are career and/or college ready.” That’s followed by 13 bullet points related to characteristics and qualifications such as strategic vision, knowledge and communication skills.
At one point in the meeting, Vice Chair Stephanie Sneed asked the consultants whether the information being provided about the applicants would include data on academic achievement. Consultant Debra Hill said no. That, Hill said, is part of the board’s follow-up work, and she recommended waiting to look at that data until they’ve narrowed the field to two or three finalists.
That’s probably what another consultant, A.J. Crabill, was reacting to when he urged the board to go back and make academic results the first screening point.
“I would strongly urge you to recalibrate your process (to eliminate) candidates who have not demonstrated that they can move the needle for children,” said Crabill, who has spent two years working with the board to hone the focus on academic success. He was taking part in the meeting remotely.
“The problem here is that if you get excited about a candidate and then later on find out that they’ve not actually ever gotten the job done, you will be seduced into going with them because your feelings lead you in their direction, even though the evidence does not,” Crabill continued.
But earlier in the meeting, consultant Kevin Castner told the board that the firm had used an “unofficial rubric” in deciding which of the 39 applications to bring to the board. That included looking for someone who “has evidence of success in moving the needle in regard to improving student improvement. So we're looking for the test scores, we're looking for graduation rates. We're looking for quantitative evidence to show that people have made a difference," he said.
The consultants also said many applicants included academic data in their application material, which the board is currently studying.
Call to start fresh
Boyd said the African American Faith Alliance’s concerns stemmed from members watching the meeting and from WFAE’s coverage of Crabill’s remarks.
“Given our track record and the way we’ve gone about selecting superintendents over the last 10 years, we can not miss this. This person is critical for us,” Boyd said.
Since 2012, CMS has hired two superintendents through national searches. Both resigned — with the reasons shielded by confidentiality agreements — in less than three years. A third, Earnest Winston, was hired internally without a search and fired less than three years later.
Summer Nunn, the board member who chairs the search committee, said Monday the board is looking for someone with both a track record of academic results and plans to stick around.
“We want to find someone with commitment to longevity,” she said.
The faith alliance has been critical of CMS leadership in the past. It sided with county commissioners in 2021, when commissioners tried to withhold money from CMS to force the school board to create a better academic plan. And last spring the alliance urged the board to replace Winston. At that time, some individuals suggested that Dennis Williams, a pastor who chairs the alliance, should take Winston’s place. Williams is a former CMS administrator who served as an interim superintendent in the mid-1990s.
Boyd would not comment Monday on whether Williams applied for the job.
The alliance also urged the board Monday to delay its request for county commissioners to put school bonds on the ballot in November.
The board has asked for voter approval to borrow $3 billion for new schools and renovations. County officials have signaled they’re likely to put a smaller amount on the ballot — though the $2.5 billion in bonds they seem comfortable with would still be a record. The three at-large seats on the nine-member school board are also up for election in November. Boyd said the board should wait until it has new members and a new superintendent before locking in construction priorities.
For now, the school board is continuing its first round of remote superintendent interviews through Thursday. A special meeting on the search is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday at the Government Center. It’s not clear how much will happen in public session. The board is keeping everything related to specific applicants confidential, as allowed by North Carolina law, while discussing the process in public.
