EdNC. Essential education news. Important stories. Your voice.

Search ednc.org

CMS board targets 2017 for new chief

Share this story

Our republishing policy

EdNC is a nonprofit, online, daily, independent newspaper. All of EdNC’s content is open source and free to republish. Please use the following guidelines when republishing our content.
  • Our content must be republished in full. If your organization uses a paywall, the content must be provided in full for free.
  • Credit our team by including both the author name and EdNC.org in the byline. Example: Alex Granados, EdNC.org.
  • If republishing the story online, please provide a link to EdNC.org or a link to the original article in either the byline or credit line.
  • The original headline of the article must be used. Allowable edits to the content of the piece include changes to meet your publication’s style guide and references to dates (i.e. this week changed to last week). Other edits must be approved by emailing Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected].
  • Photos and other multimedia elements (audio, video, etc.) may not be republished without prior permission. Please email Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected] if you are interested in sharing a multimedia element.
  • If you republish a story, please let us know by emailing Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected].
Please email Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected] if you have any questions. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Canonical tag

Please include the following canonical tag in the <head> of the republished story.

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.ednc.org/cms-board-targets-2017-new-chief/">

HTML content

This includes the title, byline, content, and tracking pixel required for republishing this story.

Copy & paste HTML
This story is tagged:
Photo courtesy of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board listed five dozen qualities members would like to see in a new superintendent—and say they aren’t willing to compromise on key attributes as they seek a long-term leader.

At a special meeting last week, board members heard advice from McPherson & Jacobson, an Omaha-based consulting firm that has been hired to help with the search. The consultants said timing will be critical for CMS to attract the type of candidates the school board—and the community—expect.

Many of the top-tier candidates for vacant superintendent jobs have already been hired. So the consultants advised a timeline that, under ideal circumstances, would involve recruiting candidates this fall, interviews in the winter, and a hiring decision by spring of 2017.

Current Superintendent Ann Clark’s contract goes through next June, though the school board can appoint a new schools chief before then.

Board members narrowed their list of desired qualities down to six key traits:

Integrity beyond reproach

Strong public education background

Politically savvy

Leadership

Ability to build strong teams

Culturally competent leader to create culturally competent district

Under McPherson & Jacobson’s proposal, the school board would conduct private interviews with a small group of candidates in January, two finalists would meet the public in February, and a hiring decision would follow soon after. The public would also have a chance to participate in focus groups or community meetings sometime this fall, though it’s too early to know exactly what those sessions would look like.

One thing the school board, advocates and critics all seem to agree on is the need to hire a superintendent with staying power. CMS has experienced significant leadership churn in the last decade, a shuffling in-and-out of executives, priorities, and personalities that has made governing the school system more difficult.

Peter Gorman served five years, from 2006 to 2011, before resigning to take a position at News Corp. Deputy Hugh Hattabaugh served as an interim superintendent until 2012, when the school board hired Heath Morrison. His abrupt and controversial departure in 2014 shocked the community and created tension among the school board. Clark, a longtime CMS administrator, has been superintendent since Morrison’s resignation—but she was not intended to be a permanent choice for the job.

Whomever the board hires will be the fifth leader in just over a decade for CMS, the nation’s 17th largest school district. Short tenures are somewhat common for the leaders of large, urban districts. However, the CMS board is hoping to buck that trend and install a superintendent committed to staying here longer.

The list is a pretty clear outline of what’s required for a superintendent to be successful here. Longevity isn’t explicitly called out—but it may be the most important requirement of all.