CMS spent $1.7M in contracts with Superintendent Crystal Hill’s ex-colleagues
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has spent more than $1.7 million on contracts with Superintendent Crystal Hill’s former colleagues since she was hired, public records show.
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Hill was placed on paid leave June 17, pending an investigation into “matters involving administrative and operational oversight,” the board said.
WSOC-TV, The Charlotte Observer’s news partner, reported in June links between $512,000 in contracts that CMS holds and Hill’s former colleagues from Cabarrus County Schools, where she worked as an assistant superintendent and chief academic officer from 2017 through May 2022. The Observer has identified at least $1.7 million in contracts through public records.
Asked by the Observer if the investigation into Hill was a result of the contracts, a CMS spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the reporting.
“The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education cannot comment,” the spokesperson told the Observer in an email.
One long-time CMS educator spoke with the Observer about the contracts but requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. He sees a problem not only with contracts being awarded to former associates of the superintendent but with the amount CMS spends on consulting contracts in general.
To veteran teachers, the more CMS spends on consultants, the less it seems to trust its teachers, he said.
Former school board member Melissa Easley declined to comment for this story but shared a similar sentiment in a Facebook post when Hill was placed on leave.
In it, Easley claimed Hill opted to hire outside consultants to work with a select set of district and school leaders rather than turn to teachers for their expertise.
“We were told over and over that we had the right leader. The visionary. The expert…Yet we still spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on outside consultants,” Easley said in her statement. “Consultants brought in to work with a small group of principals or leadership positions while the district continued losing experienced teachers, experienced administrators and institutional knowledge.”
Most of the individual contracts fell below $250,000, the threshold needed for an item to be presented to the full school board for a vote.
CMS has held several high-dollar contracts with at least three of Hill’s former colleagues since she became interim superintendent – and later, permanent superintendent – in 2023. They’re only a portion of the consulting contracts CMS has as a whole.
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The Charlotte Observer obtained copies of the contracts, which began in 2023, via a public records request. However, CMS has not yet responded to a public records request for the currently active contracts that the district holds with two of Hill’s former colleagues.
CMS has paid more than $512,000 to a firm called HayMag Consulting between 2023 and 2026, The Observer’s news partner WSOC first reported. The contracts were for coaching school leaders and executive staff.
HayMag Consulting is owned by Christopher Lowder, who served as superintendent of Cabarrus County Schools during Hill’s time with the district.
CMS also contracted with Glenda Jones as an educational consultant through Red Educational Consulting beginning in January 2023, shortly after Hill became interim superintendent, according to records. Jones previously worked with Hill in Cabarrus County Schools, where she served as assistant superintendent of human resources until 2021.
Between January 2023 and June 2026, CMS paid Jones’ firm more than $1.01 million for coaching and mentoring of the district’s human resources personnel and providing recommendations for HR improvements, according to her contracts, which The Observer obtained via public records requests. CMS has not yet responded to a request for any current contracts with the firm.
CMS also contracted with Grace Educational Consulting for “coaching and consulting” services. Lynn Rhymer, who served as deputy superintendent of operations for Cabarrus County Schools while Hill worked there, is the CEO of the firm.
Between July 2023 and July 2025, CMS paid $180,000 for Grace Educational Consulting’s services. CMS has not yet responded to a records request for any current contracts with the firm.
Hill did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s not the first time CMS consulting contracts have come into the spotlight.
Last May, a $500,000 contract with education consulting firm SYDKIMYL came under scrutiny due to the firm’s owner, Kimberly McGregor, being married to the chief executive in residence for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools at the time, Raki McGregor. However, CMS has been working with SYDKIMYL since 2019, prior to Raki’s role in the district.
Raki, who previously served as board chair of Mecklenburg County’s workforce development board Charlotte Works, has also been a long-time supporter of Hill’s and penned a letter to the CMS board during its superintendent selection process in 2023, urging members to select her for the job.
Kimberly McGregor insisted her work in the district was independent from her husband’s and referred The Observer to public records and CMS for any further questions.
“The work that I’m doing with CMS doesn’t have anything to do with my husband,” she said.
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