To reflect on the year, Chapelboro.com is re-publishing some of the top stories that impacted and defined our community’s experience in 2020. These stories and topics affected Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the rest of our region.
While 2020 presented many challenges to school districts, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools faced additional challenges by handling controversy before the COVID-19 outbreak began and conducting a superintendent search amid the pandemic. The system’s search for leadership recently came to a conclusion, but decisions on returning to in-person instruction will continue into 2021.
2020 for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools community began with some holdover confusion surrounding financial irregularities discovered by the district’s Board of Education.
A post on the CHCCS official Facebook page from December 5, 2019, said the school board discovered a partnership with the consulting company Education Elements to implement the system’s new strategic plan was “inconsistent with district policies.” Further review of financial records revealed the district had prepared to enter into a “master services agreement,” but failed to sign a true contract for a multi-year partnership. Instead, the district paid out thousands of dollars to Education Elements just under the threshold for the agreement to be required for a public school board vote.
Emails between Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance at the time Jennifer Bennett and a member of Education Elements obtained through public record later indicated this structuring of payments could have been intentional. CHCCS district policy is any spending for a contract more than $90,000 must be approved by the school board, with payments to Education Elements ranging from $38,000 to $89,300. While the initial unsigned contract with Education Element was a proposed $767,070, records show CHCCS made at least three payments totaling $259,470 before the financial irregularities were discovered. Upon the district’s cancellation of the contract, CHCCS provided Education Elements an additional $82,200 in a settlement. Bennett resigned from her position shortly after the emails were made public in February.
Parents from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools community shared their criticism over the district leadership’s lack of financial transparency and spending choices during a subsequent specially-called school board meeting. The CHCCS district went on to initially alter board policies and undergo a financial review, which found later in 2020 more than a dozen contracts violate the same policies and shared recommendations for recording financial records.
A Carrboro High School student receives her cap and gown from a volunteer. Senior students and families had to resort to these methods to celebrate graduation in 2020 because of gathering limits and district precautions. (Dakota Moyer/Chapelboro.com)
Shortly after this meeting, COVID-19 outbreaks began in North Carolina and the school system pivoted to protect the health and safety of the community. CHCCS, as well as Orange County Schools, extended their students’ spring break to begin preparation for a remote learning period. As the pandemic worsened, the school system ultimately extended remote learning through the rest of the spring and the entire fall semester, following guidance by the state Board of Education. Teachers taught courses virtually, while the district organized initiatives to bring daily meals and resources to students who needed them. Graduating seniors collected graduation materials by drive-thru methods, with ceremonies ultimately either postponed or conducted with graduates in vehicles.
In April, CHCCS Superintendent Dr. Pam Baldwin announced her resignation, setting up her exit in between the academic year after more than three years in the position. The district turned to Dr. Jim Causby to serve as the interim superintendent and guide CHCCS through the turbulent period of adjusting to remote learning. Causby, a career educator who previously served as the interim superintendent ahead of Baldwin’s hiring, led the school system as staff navigated challenges presented by public health guidelines and remote learning. Meanwhile, CHCCS conducted its search for a new superintendent.
The district announced Dr. Nyah Hamlett as its next leader on November 23, earning unanimous approval from the Board of Education. Hamlett, who currently serves as the chief of staff for Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia, began her as a special education teacher. She is set to begin her position on January 1, 2021.
“I just want to assure you,” Hamlett said the night of her official hiring, “the senior staff and I will not allow a pandemic or anything else to stop us from making connections with each of you and bringing a personal touch into classrooms across the district…. so that we can work together to develop programs and curriculum with culturally relevant student experiences and student voice at the forefront.”
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools announced Dr. Nyah Hamlett to be its new superintendent beginning in 2021. The district conducted its superintendent search process entirely online due to COVID-19. (Photo via Loudoun County Public Schools.)
Hamlett will be met with aiding CHCCS through a challenging decision: choosing a timeline for which students and staff will return to classrooms for in-person instruction. The school board initially planned to return to Plan B learning, a hybrid model of in-person and remote, sometime within this academic year. The district’s fall began with nine initial weeks of remote learning to gauge COVID-19 metrics and spread. As trends worsened through the late fall, however, the school board decided to continue remote learning and aim for a move to Plan B to start the spring semester.
On December 18, the CHCCS leaders said COVID-19 metrics were still too concerning for in-person instruction and voted to maintain its online learning model through at least February. The board will revisit a transition to a hybrid learning model during its January 21 meeting, setting up for a potential return of students on March 1.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.
