State Auditor Dave Boliek made an unannounced visit to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools headquarters on Wednesday amid ongoing turmoil at the district, after the board took a 5-4 vote to fire Superintendent Crystal Hill the night before.
Boliek confirmed that his office has spent the past three weeks with CMS staff probing “questions about financial transactions” and "financial irregularities." He said his office had received calls from citizens with concerns.
“I'm here hopefully to help calm the chaos and to let the public know that the state auditor's office is here and we're working with Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools to answer these tough questions that I know many citizens have," Boliek said.
He didn’t specify the nature of the allegations the auditor is looking into, but said he’s coordinating with the state Bureau of Investigation. District Attorney Spencer Merriweather on Friday announced that he has requested a criminal investigation into the district's finances by the SBI.
Boliek said he’s read an explosive memo from Hill leveling accusations at Sneed and was taking that into account, along with other accusations. Boliek praised CMS staff for their cooperation and said his team received a large tranche of data and documents this week. He declined to offer a timeline for any report.
CMS didn't respond to a request for comment on Boliek's visit. Board Chair Dee Rankin confirmed he'd spoken with Boliek about the visit, but declined to comment on "anything he's been participating in the past few weeks."
The school board released a long-awaited summary of a two-month investigation into Hill on Tuesday night — only after they voted to fire Hill. The report offers few new details, but makes clear that investigators found no evidence of improper conduct on Hill’s part.
The summary report says the board investigated concerns involving “workplace culture, certain personnel decisions, the handling of vacant positions, and district contracting.” But it offers no more specifics. The law firm that handled the investigation interviewed 86 people and reviewed 1.5 million documents and emails. The report found no evidence of improper conduct by Hill.
The review did find the district could improve its consistency and clarity around personnel decisions, but it notes these are “not attributable to the Superintendent.” The report also flags areas of improvement in workplace culture, though not among Hill’s direct reports, and notes that all employees should feel comfortable raising concerns.
Spreading turmoil
Also on Tuesday, Sneed resigned her leadership position, though she remains on the board as a member. In the past month, four top administrators have announced they're retiring or stepping down — including deputy superintendent Melissa Balknight, who the board named interim superintendent. And the board will now have to search for its eighth superintendent in 15 years.
“This board has spiraled into complete chaos. This board is dysfunctional. This board is broken,” said member Monty Witherspoon on Tuesday. He voted to retain Hill.
Hill has not responded to requests for comment from WFAE. Under the terms of her contract, she will receive a full year of severance, about $340,000, since she was not terminated for cause.
Hill had been widely praised before this year for bringing stability to the district, guiding the post-pandemic recovery and raising test scores. But months of controversy erupted into chaos last week, capped off by an explosive memo sent by Hill to the school board. She accused Sneed of routing public money to a controversial consultant without Hill's knowledge and without the knowledge of most of the board, and said staff had raised concerns about the payments.
The public trouble started in April, when the board unexpectedly rejected Hill's proposed budget. Weeks of tense meetings followed, with the board repeatedly meeting in closed session to discuss personnel matters and questioning Hill's recommendations in unusually blunt language. The board eventually approved the district's $2.1 billion budget with only minor modifications.
Then in June, the board suspended Hill with pay. The board did not provide a reason, but said they had hired a law firm to investigate the district's operations under Hill. Hill later told WFAE that the board offered to let her resign and keep the potential investigation secret — or make it public if Hill decided to stay.
In August, after spending $379,000 on the investigation, the board reinstated Hill, again with no explanation. The board said they would work with Hill on unspecified issues, but refused to provide more information, citing personnel privacy laws for state employees.
“We believe that returning her provides the best pathway forward for CMS," Sneed said at the time, "while maintaining continuity and stability for our students, employees and families.”
Earlier this month, Hill told WFAE her side of the story. She said the investigation found no wrongdoing by her — which CMS confirmed this week with the release of its summary report — and that she refused to leave on her own, as some on the board wanted.
"I had known that I had not done anything ... that was against board policy, illegal, immoral or unethical, I was not going to leave the district for any terms that are less than what’s in my contract," she told WFAE.
