CHARLOTTE — In one of her last acts as superintendent, Dr. Crystal Hill sent a warning to Mecklenburg County Manager Mike Bryant. An email obtained by Channel 9 shows that while the CMS Board was meeting in closed session to ultimately determine Hill’s fate, Hill emailed Bryant about the source of the funds that are now under investigation.
[ READ MORE: Students and teachers urge CMS leadership to prioritize classrooms over investigations ]
“As reported in the news, I submitted a memo to my Board with a timeline of events and exhibits. Since my return to work, I’ve been made aware of information that I believe may be connected to previous events. The funding source for the transactions I’ve questioned are local funds allocated from Mecklenburg County Board of County Commissioners,” she said. “As our funding partner, I wanted to make you aware. As you know, (District Attorney) Merriweather has opened a criminal investigation into finances at CMS. I don’t want to do anything that would hamper the investigation, but I do believe you should be aware of the funds that have been spent to date. My staff would be amenable to sharing information with you as appropriate.”
The email was first reported by The Charlotte Ledger.
As Channel 9 has been reporting, Dr. Hill is raising questions about payments the former Board Chair Stephanie Sneed entered into with Poyner Spruill and money being passed on to former CMS employee Raki McGregor.
Dr. Hill says school board members weren’t all aware of McGregor’s involvement with the Garinger affordable housing project until this past June.
But a Jan. 2 email obtained by Channel 9 shows McGregor and Poyner Spruill were working together before that.
The law firm and McGregor were pitching the CMS Board on a $48,500 contract “to analyze CMS operations and systems to identify opportunities for efficiencies; implement a Board-approved, strategic improvement plan within the current CMS budget; and cultivate public-private partnerships for CMS’s future in the school choice landscape.”
It’s unclear if the board entered into this agreement and if board members knew of McGregor’s pitch. However, this proposal came about a month before the law firm entered into the contract for the affordable housing project with Sneed.
The proposal became public record because the attorney for Poyner Spruill, Katie Cornetto, emailed Raki McGregor’s CMS email apparently by mistake. He wasn’t working for the district at this point, but the message became a public document when she sent it. Records show she attempted to recall the message after sending it.
County Manager Mike Bryant hasn’t commented on Hill’s email.