Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Dr. Crystal Hill has been placed on leave amid an investigation into how the district is run, the school board said Wednesday. Hill has been on the job for more than three years.
The school district and multiple board members either declined to give more information or did not return requests for comment seeking more information on Wednesday, before releasing a brief statement.
"The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education announced today that it has placed Superintendent Dr. Crystal Hill on temporary leave with pay, pending an investigation into matters involving administrative and operational oversight," the board wrote. Because Hill's suspension is a personnel matter, the board won't provide further information.
"The Board’s responsibility is to ensure appropriate oversight and accountability across the district while supporting the continued operation of our schools," the board wrote.
Deputy Superintendent Melissa Balknight will lead the district in the interim.
In a written statement sent from a personal email address, Hill said she will follow the investigative process.
"While I am saddened by the Board of Education's recent actions and the circumstances surrounding them, I remain committed to our community, our district, and our mission. I will cooperate fully with any review and trust that the process will be conducted objectively and thoroughly," she wrote.
The move marks a stunning change of fortunes for Hill, a widely praised leader who won recognition for improving test scores and steering CMS' post-COVID pandemic recovery. She was hired in July 2023, after serving as interim superintendent starting in 2022. The school board approved a contract extension in December, to keep Hill through the 2029 school year.
Hill's future at the district has been in doubt for months, however. Her relationship with the CMS board deteriorated sharply during this year's budget process, starting in April when board members unexpectedly rejected Hill's proposed budget and kicked off two weeks of highly contentious budget hearings.
In the end, that budget process resulted in minimal changes, totaling only several million out of the district's $2.1 billion spending plan. Still, the hours of acrimonious hearings revealed sharp tension between Hill and the board. Hill said she was uncomfortable with the process and hadn't been given direction, while some board members said they thought Hill was being unresponsive and trying to make the board look "stupid" in public.
Ultimately, board chair Stephanie Sneed was left in tears at a May meeting as she described the strain of the process.
And earlier this month, the CMS board approved a sweeping audit of spending practices in the district, which Sneed said was a routine good governance measure for a district with a multibillion dollar budget.
Speculation about Hill's future has swirled since the budget vote, as the board met repeatedly in closed session to discuss "personnel matters" without disclosing any information. Over the weekend, speculation among CMS insiders ramped up further as Hill was absent from district graduations.
Multiple outlets reported Wednesday that Hill is expected to leave her job at the district in the near future, even though the board described her leave as "temporary." The exact timing — and whether that would be through resignation, firing, or retirement — wasn’t clear. Brett Jensen, with WBT News, was first to report this.
Hill, who was formerly the district’s chief of staff and has served in a variety of other administrative roles at other school districts, is the latest superintendent to serve a relatively short tenure at CMS. The district has had seven superintendents in the past 15 years.
In addition to rising test scores, Hill has also won praise for helping to pass a record-setting $2.5 billion school construction bond, and for smoothing over what has historically been a contentious relationship with Mecklenburg County commissioners over the budget.
