Newsletter 7/21: Superintendent’s key advisor is backing school board candidates

Plus: Catholic Diocese downgrades cathedral plans; Journalist Tommy Tomlinson on taking a buyout from WFAE; Business Alliance plans $3M transit push; Hornets win championship*

Jul 21, 2025

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A CMS contractor, with close ties to Crystal Hill and Charlotte business leaders, is raising eyebrows by publicly supporting challengers; political payback against critics?

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education voted in March to increase the amount of a contract for executive coaching to $500,000. The husband of the firm’s owner is a key advisor to Superintendent Crystal Hill, has ties to key business executives and is publicly supporting two school board challengers in districts where incumbents had opposed the increase to the contract.

by Tony Mecia

At a school board meeting in March, first-term Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board member Melissa Easley told her colleagues that she planned to vote against a proposal to increase a contract by $125,000 for executive coaching services in CMS middle schools.

She said the money could be better used, that other programs already did the same thing and that, as a former teacher, she had never heard of the company CMS was hiring, SYDKIMYL Educational Consulting.

“I have never encountered this firm or seen [its] results in our classroom, and I have been in there since 2011. Where is the evidence that this directly impacts our student outcomes?” said Easley, who represents northern Mecklenburg. “… Let’s prioritize the spending that directly affects our students and supports our staff that are already tirelessly working in schools.”

Easley and two other board members opposed the contract boost, but they were outvoted by a five-person board majority that sided with Superintendent Crystal Hill’s administration and approved the change.

Now, two of the three board members who didn’t vote to approve the contract have candidates in their districts who are backed by one of the superintendent’s top advisors: Raki McGregor, who happens to be the husband of SYDKIMYL Educational Consulting’s owner.

McGregor — who separately had his own $13,000-a-month CMS consulting contract for working with Hill — is also a consultant for the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council (CELC), a group of influential CEOs and other leaders of more than 40 of the Charlotte region’s biggest companies, including Atrium Health, Bank of America, Red Ventures, Lowe’s and Duke Energy.

The public involvement in school board races by a CMS contractor and advisor so close to the superintendent — who is supervised by the school board — would be unusual by itself. Top professional staff of local governments typically stay out of local politics.

But throw in the matter of the contract for his wife, and his ties to Charlotte’s most prominent business leaders, and McGregor’s involvement appears to some board members and CMS watchers as heavy-handed political payback against those who were doing their jobs by questioning CMS expenditures.

McGregor appeared last week in a Facebook video posted by Charlitta Hatch when she filed at the Board of Elections to take on Easley in this fall’s election:

(There’s also a third candidate in the race, former high school math teacher Bill Fountain.)

When asked by The Ledger why she was running, Hatch said said she comes from a long line of CMS graduates and that she and her husband have a rising 3rd-grader in CMS — and that her background as the city of Charlotte’s chief data and analytics officer and her pursuit of a doctorate in urban education at UNC Charlotte give her a strong understanding of technology and policy. Hatch, who lives in Highland Creek, is also the former president of the Junior League of Charlotte.

“I’ve known Raki for a while,” she said. “Does he support me? Yes. But did he ask me or convince me or is he backing me? No. This is something I wanted to do.”

Easley, in an interview with The Ledger, says she doesn’t regret anything she’s done on the board: “I stand by what I said and what I questioned. I will continue to question our budget and our line items to make sure we are using our tax dollars effectively.”

McGregor is a former Novant Health executive. He heads CMS’s “executive-in-residence” program, in which the district has received the business expertise of leaders from more than 20 CELC companies in the last three years. A spokeswoman for Foundation for the Carolinas, which lends administrative support to the CELC, says that McGregor “advises [the] CELC on important issues and opportunities within our public school system.” The CELC pays for a portion of McGregor’s CMS contract, she said.

In addition to the CMS contracts, SYDKIMYL also received $600,000 from Mecklenburg County in fiscal year 2025 for “social and emotional learning instruction” in grades K-8, WFAE reported.

McGregor didn’t respond last week to inquiries from The Ledger. His wife told The Charlotte Observer in May: “The work that I’m doing with CMS doesn’t have anything to do with my husband.”

A CMS spokeswoman didn’t reply to questions from The Ledger on Friday.

How much deference to give to superintendent?

The CMS school board had been in a relatively drama-free era following a few tumultuous years of Covid-related school closings, criticism over handling of sexual assault allegations and the ouster of a superintendent. But this November’s election, in which six of nine school board seats are on the ballot, has the potential to ramp up the intrigue. At stake is the leadership of a school system with 140,000+ students and a nearly $2B annual budget — at a time when there are lingering questions from parents about the district’s recent personnel decisions, and as federal education cutbacks could be approaching.

One of the emerging divisions on the board seems to be the amount of deference to give to Hill, who was appointed superintendent in May 2023 on a 6-3 vote. The bloc that voted against the change to McGregor’s wife’s contract — Easley, Summer Nunn and Lisa Cline — seems more inclined to publicly question the CMS administration than the school board majority.

In the March debate over the contract, for instance, board vice chair Dee Rankin, who represents University City, chided Easley for “digging into operations” of the district instead of holding the superintendent accountable for results.

“Sometimes what happens is as board members, we are so passionate, we begin to sometimes dig into operations, which is not our role,” he said. “… If this is a need that the district feels needs to be done, then I support that. … We still have to be fiscally responsible, but sometimes, we say we’re trying to be efficient, but what we’re doing is digging into operations.”

At the same meeting, board chair Stephanie Sneed said: “I do think it is important for us to be fiscally responsible, but it’s also our responsibility to listen to what staff needs.”

‘We keep receipts’

McGregor also has ties to the school board race in south Charlotte/Steele Creek, in the district represented by Nunn — who was one of two sitting board members to vote against Hill’s appointment as superintendent two years ago and sided with Easley against McGregor’s wife’s contract increase.

McGregor is the chairman of the board of workforce development nonprofit Charlotte Works, and the organization’s CEO, Anna London, filed to run for Nunn’s school board seat on the first day of filing, July 7.

In a LinkedIn post the same day, McGregor congratulated her on her candidacy — while saying his support was “entirely in my personal capacity as a private citizen,” and not as a representative of CMS, Charlotte Works or the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council’s executive-in-residence program that he leads.

In the post, he called Hill “the most gifted, student focused leader in the nation” and added: “This is not an opinion, we keep receipts — all facts.”

Four days later, Nunn announced on Facebook that she would not run for a second term, a decision she explained in part by decrying “politics”: “I want to be very clear—I will not put my career, my family or my reputation at risk because of politics, especially when politics get in the way of doing what’s right for kids, teachers and our community.”

She said that “dysfunction remains” and noted, referring to London, that “a candidate from my own party filed to run before I had the chance to share my decision.”

School board races are nonpartisan, meaning that political parties are not listed on the ballot. Nunn and London are both Democrats. School board candidates sometimes get a boost from endorsement lists from political parties.

Two other candidates, Toni Emehel and Justin Shealy, filed for the seat on Friday.

Challenging those ‘who ask tough questions’

In another south Charlotte district, Cline — an incumbent who is a retired CMS teacher and assistant principal who voted against Hill’s appointment and McGregor’s wife’s contract — is facing a newcomer, former teacher Cynthia Stone.

Cline says she has no evidence that McGregor is targeting her, but added: “It’s very odd that the three people who voted against Raki McGregor’s wife’s contract are being challenged. I think there’s something up with that.”

She said she is proud of her record, which includes “asking questions about money — where is the money going?” She said she is running for re-election because she still has work to do: “I feel like I’m just now hitting my stride, I’m helping people, and parents know to reach out to me.”

Stone, in response to emailed questions from The Ledger, said: “I want to go on record that I have no connection to Mr. McGregor or his organization. It seems he’s been challenging School Board members who ask tough questions, hoping to push them off of the Board. As one who’s not afraid to ask tough questions, those are the people with whom I hope to work if elected.”

If elected, she says she hopes to focus on student safety, mental health, teacher retention and transparency, among other issues.

Weighed in on superintendent choice, too

McGregor’s public support of school board candidates isn’t the first time that he has ruffled feathers in regard to his position with CMS.

Before Hill was appointed superintendent, McGregor was brought into CMS by interim Superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh.

Two weeks before the board vote to name a replacement, McGregor emailed the school board, throwing his weight behind the selection of Hill — a move some school board members viewed as inappropriate, given his position as a key advisor to the district.

In the email, which is publicly available as a result of a public records request, he praised Hill’s leadership and innovation. “I have worked on many teams and with many leaders, and she stands out as an extraordinary, intentional and values-driven leader. … I hope we can continue this forward motion without interruption under Dr. Hill,” he wrote.

In response, board member Thelma Byers-Bailey wrote: “THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!! From your keyboard to GOD’s EARS.”

Tony Mecia is executive editor of The Charlotte Ledger. Reach him at tony@cltledger.com.

Related Ledger article:

“An executive boost to the CMS workforce” (🔒, Jan. 5, 2024)

Today’s supporting sponsor is Landon A. Dunn, attorney-at-law in Matthews:

Charlotte’s Catholic Diocese cools on plans for new cathedral; will instead explore $150M capital campaign to address other needs throughout Western N.C.

The Catholic Diocese of Charlotte appears to be slowing down plans for a new cathedral, saying instead that it’s exploring a $150M fundraising campaign to meet the needs at parishes, schools and ministries.

The diocese, which covers 46 counties in the western half of North Carolina, said last year that it was planning to build a new cathedral to take the place of St. Patrick in Dilworth, which is too small to serve the area’s growing Catholic population. Although no site has been identified, construction was to have started by 2030, and costs were estimated at up to $100M.

Now, though, the diocese is considering raising money instead for projects that would help address needs and prepare for growth at local levels instead of fundraising for a new cathedral, according to an article published last week in the Catholic News Herald, a diocese publication. It described the campaign as a “broader effort to invest in five key areas: parishes, Catholic schools, land acquisition for future growth, Catholic Charities and under-resourced ministries.”

The article quoted Bishop Michael Martin as saying, “Our planning and research are helping us crystallize what we need to do now to meet the demands of growth and deliver on our mission of spreading the Gospel.”

The article says the diocese is still committed to a new cathedral but that the fundraising for broader needs is taking priority. The new effort would be the diocese’s largest capital campaign since 2013.

Under the leadership of Martin, who was named Charlotte’s bishop in April 2024, the diocese had explored shifting cathedral status to St. Mark in Huntersville — but that idea was met with resistance from Rome, according to a May article in

The Pillar

, an independent national Catholic news site.

It quoted an anonymous Vatican source saying: “It was felt that [Bishop Martin] was moving very fast with big ideas for changes to the diocese, and he had only just arrived. He was asked to consider taking time to know the people and the diocese better before deciding on things which could be received as disruptive. … Specifically on the cathedral the desire was for [Martin] to move slowly, much more slowly.” —Tony Mecia

Longtime journalist Tommy Tomlinson is taking a buyout from WFAE, amid federal funding cuts

Longtime Charlotte journalist and commentator Tommy Tomlinson is one of the casualties of cutbacks at WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR station — the result of federal defunding of public media and what the station calls a “difficult economic environment.”

Tomlinson, 61, is a former Charlotte Observer columnist who hosts the station’s “SouthBound” podcast and delivers a weekly commentary.

In an interview with The Ledger on Friday, Tomlinson said he’s taking a buyout effective at the end of the month. WFAE announced Friday that it is eliminating six jobs at the station “from all areas of the company, including those in the newsroom, business and membership departments, with voluntary and involuntary separations.”

Last week, Congress voted to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides grants to local NPR and PBS affiliates. WFAE said that the CPB provided more than $800,000 in support to the station last year and that the cuts would total about 10% of the station’s budget.

Before joining WFAE in 2018, Tomlinson was at The Charlotte Observer from 1989 to 2012, when he also took a buyout — a reflection of tough times in local media.

He said he appreciated the station taking a chance on him — “I obviously don’t have a natural voice for radio” — and thanked his generous and helpful colleagues.

“I have nothing but good things to say about that place,” he said. “They are doing a very difficult thing that a lot of people are trying to do, which is navigate this incredibly difficult time for local media especially and trying to do the best they can and keep the public informed as best they can. It’s a lot harder job than it used to be.”

He said he’s going to take some time to figure out the next steps. But they’ll likely include more frequent writing of his newsletter, The Writing Shed, and toying with a few ideas for books he’d like to write. He’s the author of “The Elephant in the Room,” a memoir chronicling his battle with weight; and “Dogland,” a humorous exploration of the dog show world.

“This is the first time in a while that I’m a free agent again,” he said. “I’m going to take that time and be careful about what I’m going to do.” —Tony Mecia

(Disclosure: The Ledger is a news partner of WFAE. We jointly produce Transit Time, a newsletter on transit and transportation, and our reporters appear weekly on-air to discuss local business stories on WFAE’s “BizWorthy” segment.)

Business Alliance plans to raise $3M for pro-transit tax push; hires consultants, poll closer than anticipated, report says

The Charlotte Regional Business Alliance is planning to raise $3M in support of the transit tax referendum expected to be on the November ballot.

According to an article Friday in Business North Carolina that cites unnamed sources, the Alliance has lined up a bipartisan roster of consultants and advisors to push for a “yes” vote on the initiative, including:

Republican political consultant Paul Shumaker, who has “won more U.S. Senate races in North Carolina than any consultant in the state for the last 25 years,” according to his website
Morgan Jackson, an advisor to former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper
Jordan Shaw, a strategy and communications consultant who used to work for Sen. Thom Tillis
Wilhelmenia Rembert, the former Mecklenburg commissioner and school board member
Nepherterra Best of Pride Public Relations
Betty Doster, who retired last month as UNC Charlotte’s special assistant to the chancellor for external relations and partnerships

The November referendum, which is expected to be placed on the Mecklenburg ballot with a vote by county commissioners next month, would increase the sales tax from 7.25% to 8.25% and be a key component of a $25B plan to expand transit and roads. The city has estimated it would cost the typical family $240 more a year in higher sales taxes.

There is no known organized opposition.

A poll by supporters of the tax showed it winning by a margin of about 50%-40%, Business North Carolina said, citing people familiar with the matter — a margin “closer than officials had expected.”

➡️ Read the full Business North Carolina article here.

Join us for a free, 3-part summer health webinar series: ‘Move Well, Live Well’

Join The Charlotte Ledger and OrthoCarolina for three free, lunch-hour sessions with top orthopedic experts. Get smart, practical insights about staying strong, protecting your joints and moving through life with less pain and more energy!

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Which is it? A tale of two headlines

“Mayor Lyles’ reelection campaign might already be a slam dunk” —headline, Axios Charlotte, July 16
“In Charlotte’s competitive 2025 primary, Lyles will face most challengers in years” —headline, Charlotte Observer, July 19

🍺 Reminder: Ledger ‘Reader Appreciation Night’ happy hour on Tuesday, 5:30-7

Charlotte Ledger members are invited to join us Tuesday (July 22) from 5:30-7 at another one of our summer “Reader Appreciation Night” events!

Come drop in, meet The Ledger’s staff and mingle with each other. We’ll buy the first couple of rounds.

It’s our small way of saying thank you to our paying subscribers for supporting local journalism — and a fun chance to hang out face-to-face.

➡️ Get the details here.

(If you’re not a Ledger member and want to join, why not do it now?)

You might be interested in these Charlotte events: 24 Hours of Booty, middle school art camp, health care panel

Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:

FRIDAY: “24 Hours of Booty,” 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at Queens University of Charlotte, 1900 Selwyn Ave. Join 24 Foundation in celebrating 24 years of changing the course of cancer. Come ride, walk or volunteer at the 24 Hours of Booty charity non-competitive cycling and walking event in Charlotte’s Myers Park neighborhood. Funds raised support organizations dedicated to cancer navigation and survivorship. $75 for 12+ and $50 for 11 and younger. Virtual experiences/prices available.

JULY 28: “Middle School Art Camp: Storytellers,” 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Arts+ Community Campus, 2304 The Plaza. In this fun week-long camp, middle school students will explore creative writing and make their own handwritten books. Those who love creating characters, writing prose or poetry, or find themselves wanting to share personal stories will enjoy this unique opportunity to showcase their talent. All are welcome, and there's no experience necessary to join in on the fun! $350.

JULY 31: “South Charlotte Partners Breakfast Club,” 8-9:30 a.m., at AC Hotel Charlotte Ballantyne, 14819 Ballantyne Village Way. July Breakfast Club will focus on the topic of “The State of Health Care in South Charlotte.” The conversation will bring together local health care leaders to explore how hospitals are evolving to meet the needs of a growing and diverse community. Timely topics such as expanding access to specialty care close to home, promoting wellness and aging in place, supporting youth mental health, improving cost transparency, and advancing equity and language access will be discussed. Registration required. $28.52.

➡️ List your event on the Ledger events board.

In brief:

Hornets win championship! The Charlotte Hornets won the championship of the NBA’s summer league, in which teams play their new draft picks and other younger players. The Hornets defeated the Sacramento Kings 83-78 in Las Vegas on Sunday night to finish 6-0 in the summer league.
Watermelon Festival shooting death: A 17-year-old was shot and killed at the Pageland Watermelon Festival on Friday night in Pageland, S.C., 40 miles southeast of Charlotte The town canceled the rest of the festival after the death. Police charged a 17-year-old with the crime. (Fox 46)
Viral salad: A kale salad from Bird Pizzeria in Charlotte’s Optimist Park neighborhood has “gone viral” on Instagram. (Observer)

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