Superintendent Crystal Hill alleges ‘extortion’ by CMS board. Read her full memo
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill claimed school board members tried to extort her into resigning in a memorandum Hill sent to board members Wednesday.
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The 14-page memorandum, which included over 200 pages of attached exhibits, claimed the board said June 9 it would withhold the fact that it had received “several serious allegations” for which it planned to investigate her if she resigned by the end of the week. The Charlotte Observer obtained the memo from a district source.
“I consider this extortion,” Hill said.
The allegation is just one in a litany of concerns Hill raises, including ties between board members and CMS contractors, political involvement of CMS representatives and the motives behind the board’s investigation of her this summer, which she called “frivolous.”
Hill sent the memo less than a week before the board is expected to vote whether to oust Board Chair Stephanie Sneed as its leader at its regular meeting Tuesday evening.
The school board paid law firm Brooks Pierce to conduct a two-month, $379,000 investigation into Hill this summer. The board has committed to releasing a report detailing the investigation, including the process, lessons learned and recommended improvements, by the end of September.
“I do not understand why the board did not buy out my contract from the beginning,” Hill wrote. “But I suspect the investigation was used as leverage in hopes I would accept a severance agreement that included a confidentiality provision.”
Hill said Sept. 8 on WFAE that the investigation yielded “no findings” of wrongdoing on her part.
“When I did not agree to resign on the board’s terms, Brooks Pierce commenced the frivolous investigation against me,” Hill wrote in the Wednesday memorandum.
The memorandum also detailed Hill’s concerns about controversial, high-dollar contracts with education consulting firms SYDKIMYL and Qonnect LLC. Raki McGregor, former CMS executive in residence, owns Qonnect LLC, and his wife, Kimberly McGregor, owns SYDKIMYL.
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Hill claimed in the memorandum that board members, including Sneed, pushed for continued contracts with SYDKIMYL and that Raki McGregor, a former Novant Health executive, aligned himself with 2025 school board candidates despite still being employed by CMS at the time as executive in residence.
She raised concerns that McGregor was later a subcontractor for the district through arrangements with law firms despite CMS deciding to end its previous partnership with him.
The Observer reported Thursday that a CMS employee claimed Sneed directed her to authorize payment of $30,000 per month to Qonnect LLC – despite there not being an official contract with the district – for McGregor’s services as a consultant on the district’s affordable housing for teachers initiative. McGregor is also a subcontractor on a compliance audit law firm Poyner Spruill is conducting of the school district but which the school board has now placed on hold.
Hill claimed in her memorandum that the scope of McGregor’s duties in the audit is “nonsensical” and “not measurable.”
She also pointed out that McGregor will receive $13,000 a month for the audit work, which she said is the same pay he had previously received as CMS executive in residence before CMS decided not to renew his contract.
The superintendent also said she believes the recent wave of resignations in her office are because staff has lost confidence in the CMS board. At least five CMS executives have announced retirements or resignations in recent weeks.
“I hope a public discussion of these matters will help improve morale and help us to focus on the important work of educating children,” the memorandum concluded.
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Read the full memo below:
This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 4:32 PM.
