Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill says an investigation into her involving allegations of misuse of federal funds, a hostile work environment and conflicts of interest found no violations of board policy or law.
In her most substantive public comments since returning from a two-month paid leave, Hill told WFAE’s Charlotte Talks on Tuesday that the investigation found no wrongdoing. Her account is the clearest explanation yet about why the board placed her on leave in June pending an investigation.
Hill said the board told her about “serious and concerning allegations” on June 9, and gave her time to decide her future with the district. She chose to stick out the investigation, and told Mike Collins she knew she’d done nothing wrong.
“I am not perfect by any means. I’m a human, I make mistakes every day,” she said. “But I knew in that moment and through the entire nine weeks of the investigation that I had not done anything that was a violation of board policy. I knew that I had not done anything illegal. I knew I had not done anything immoral or unethical.”
Hill said she understands the school board’s legal obligation to keep personnel matters confidential, but noted that she can legally disclose her own personnel information.
“Of course it’s led to public concern, and I know there’s a lot of questions about what happened and probably a lot of questions about why I was returned to work without there being a level of transparency,” Hill said.
Hill said she has not yet seen the detailed allegations that prompted the investigation. She also said she has not been provided the full investigative report, claiming the board has cited attorney-client privilege in withholding it.
Still, Hill says the investigation turned up no findings of mismanagement of federal funds, no findings of improper spending, no findings of a hostile work environment and no findings of a conflict of interest with any vendors.
She also said there were no specific allegations that she herself had created a hostile working environment or misused federal funds.
The board has voted to release a summary of the investigation by the end of September. It’s not clear what information this summary will include, as the board has discussed the need to keep personnel matters confidential.
Hill told WFAE in a separate interview Tuesday that she’s already shared, through her attorney, some of her own personnel information that she has given permission to release “at any time.”
Board members voted last month to release more information about the investigation by the end of September. This would include “the investigation process, key lessons learned and recommended improvements to governance, policy, procedure and oversight.”
But the board said this release would still comply with law protecting confidential personnel records, so it's not clear how much detail it will contain. The investigation cost CMS at least $379,000, according to itemized bills through the end of July from an outside law firm.
