Search for new CMS superintendent is happening in secret. Is that legal?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - WBTV is challenging a plan by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education to interview superintendent candidates in secret.

The school board announced this week that it would conduct a first round of interviews in its superintendent search beginning Friday night and stretching into next week. Each of the six interviews will take place with the full school board and individual candidates.

According to notices advertising the meetings, each interview will happen in closed session, meaning they will take place in secret.

An attorney for WBTV wrote CMS board chair Elyse Dashew and district staff on Friday challenging the decision to conduct the interviews behind closed doors.

“A closed session is clearly improper here,” the attorney wrote.

“It is squarely in the public’s interest to be able to attend the meetings where the Board conducts interviews for superintendent candidates, given the turmoil that has plagued the position in recent years.”

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Under North Carolina’s Open Meetings Law, government bodies must conduct business in public except under a list of narrowly-defined circumstances.

In the letter sent Friday, the attorney for the station questioned whether a superintendent candidate interview met any of the narrow exceptions.

“Moreover, to the extent that the Board of Education seeks to invoke N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-318.11(a)(6) to close its meeting, North Carolina’s courts have made clear that such exceptions are discretionary and must be narrowly construed,” the letter said. “WBTV does not believe this statutory provision applies here.”

Neither Dashew, the district’s lawyer nor any other official had responded as of late Friday afternoon.

The first interview is scheduled to begin Friday night at 7:00. The public can watch the board convene its virtual meeting before voting to go behind closed doors.

The full letter sent on behalf of WBTV can be read here.

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