CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education voted Monday to release their written response to a March letter authored by the attorney for then-Superintendent Earnest Winston.
The March 30 letter claims three unidentified board members suggested Winston "think about a 'mutual' parting of the ways," the letter, first obtained and published by WFAE radio, says. "[These conversations were] after he tried to accommodate what he thought was the desire of the Chair to make an offer to resign so as to save the Board the need to terminate him."
The letter indicates as late as March, Winston had made an offer to resign but the terms of that resignation were not disclosed in the letter. In the letter, attorney Glenn Brock said he advised Winston "not to have further meetings where the purpose is to discuss him leaving."
Winston was fired in April through a contractual clause of "termination for convenience" This act, approved by a 7-2 vote, resulted in a severance of about $24,000 per month for the next two years. The amount was nearly equivalent to his normal salary.
At the time of the April vote, Dr. Ruby Jones, who represents District 3 for the CMS Board of Education, accused CMS Board of Education Chairperson Elyse Dashew of orchestrating and "ramrodding" this.
On Monday, Jones confirmed she sent the March letter to WFAE reporter Ann Doss Helms.
The radio station published a story about the letter Monday at 2:30 p.m. At the same time, the CMS Board of Education announced an emergency meeting set for 4 p.m. that afternoon.
During that virtual meeting, where Dashew expressed disappointment about the leaked material, the board voted to release their written response to Brock.
In their April 4 letter, André F. Mayes, the general counsel for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, disputed the claims of Brock and Winston.
"Three Board members, who were representing the entire Board, recently met with the Superintendent to share the Board’s continuing concerns with the superintendent’s performance and to see if he was willing to resume discussions regarding a mutual separation," the response letter reads. "The Superintendent, as did your March 30, 2022, communication, made it clear that he wants to remain in his position and does not wish to engage in discussions regarding a mutual separation."
At the time of his termination in April, the school district released some documentation from Winston's personnel file, including recent ratings of his job performance. Neither letter was released at that time.
As WCNC Charlotte reported at the time, his released evaluation showed board members gave the former superintendent around 2 out of 4, considered "developing," when it comes to communication and community relations.
"We are struggling in (communicating) even the simplest things to the public, to our teachers/staff and to our families," an unidentified board member wrote on Winston's evaluation.
"Our entire communication platform is failing," an unidentified board member wrote.
"Superintendent must improve communication with all stakeholders," an unidentified board member wrote.
"Communication with the public seems to continue to be a work in progress," an unidentified board member wrote.
The district's assistant superintendent for communication recently left CMS for a job elsewhere.
Winston served as superintendent just shy of three years after taking the job in August of 2019. He signed a contract extension last February, which ran through June 2025.
Hugh Hattabaugh was named interim superintendent. According to CMS, he will be in place no later than June 30, 2023.
Flashpoint is a weekly in-depth look at politics in Charlotte, North Carolina, South Carolina, and beyond with host Ben Thompson. Listen to the podcast weekly.
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