CMS names first Black woman Superintendent
Crystal Hill was named the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District’s full-time superintendent on Friday, removing her interim tag. She is the district’s first Black female superintendent.
The CMS Board of Education voted 6-3 Friday to approve a 4-year contract. The three opposing votes came from board members Jennifer De La Jara, Summer Nunn and Lisa Cline.
Why it matters: Hill is the district’s sixth full-time superintendent since 2011. CMS, the second largest district in North Carolina, has been without a permanent superintendent since Earnest Winston was fired in April 2022.
Hill was named interim in December 2022 after then-interim Hugh Hattabaugh announced he wouldn’t finish his contract.
Hill, who joined CMS in May 2022 as chief of staff, has more than 25 years in the education field, serving in Guilford County, Winston Salem-Forsyth and Cabarrus County.
The search The board hired BWP & Associates in February to handle the search, conduct several community engagement sessions and create a leadership profile of who the next superintendent should be.
BWP & Associates told the board at a meeting in April that a total of 49 people applied from 18 states.
Applicants included assistant superintendents, principals, and business, community or political leaders, among others.
From those 49 applications, BWP & Associates narrowed the pool to six candidates. Then, board members narrowed that list to four finalists at the beginning of May.