CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools board member revealed to Channel 9 Tuesday who she wants to take over as the district's superintendent.
It was just a couple of months ago that Heath Morrison suddenly resigned and there's been no public discussion on the topic yet.
The board isn't scheduled to meet again until next week.
CMS board member Rhonda Lennon told reporter Paige Hansen she endorses Deputy Superintendent Ann Clark to become CMS' permanent superintendent following the abrupt resignation of Morrison.
"I think Ann, she's just phenomenal. She's what our district needs to be stable and move forward, and she is deeply entrenched in every aspect of our system," Lennon said.
Channel 9 obtained hundreds of pages of emails requested by the station after Morrison resigned, citing family reasons.
"I can say that there are people, the day after everything happened, who thanked me," Lennon said. "That they thanked me and that to me said a lot."
Morrison wrote to his executive staff following a retreat in an email dated Sept. 19. He named executives who brought up specific issues including Clark, who Morrison wrote, "Challenged the idea that fear is no longer part of our culture."
The term "culture of fear" was first referenced in a report into Morrison's alleged misconduct, compiled by CMS' legal counsel George Battle.
Lennon said she believes there was a culture of fear with Morrison.
"I think there's always fear," Lennon said. "I personally have met with people within the organization, and I think the culture of fear over the last few years was definitely a different thing than we've ever experienced before."
"I can't say, but I think it was incredibly different," Lennon said about Morrison's term as superintendent.
Morrison said he remembered the email sent following an executive staff retreat and said, at the time, he questioned if, "we were really ready to feel it had been completely addressed, as I had heard the term (referring to a culture of fear) a lot when I first arrived in CMS," Morrison wrote to Channel 9 in a text message.
"Ann agreed with me that the term (culture of fear) had been part of the fabric of CMS for many years, long before I arrived and that the momentum we had for finally addressing it, should continue," Morrison wrote in the text message.
The board has not officially named Clark as the interim superintendent of the district, but as deputy, she is the one in the position.
The board has not begun a search or publicly discussed if they'll get help from an outside search firm or hire internally.
Lennon said she doesn't expect a decision to be made until February.
WSOC
