A version of the following article appeared in the Monday, August 31, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
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Hill praises ‘fabulous’ first week of school, marked by ‘smiling faces’ and ‘warm and inviting’ campuses
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill
by Tony Mecia
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill said the district is off to a “fabulous” start, praising the first week of classes last week as a “resounding success.”
At a media briefing on Friday, Hill said students arrived at campuses that were “prepped, pristine, warm and inviting,” and other CMS leaders praised the district’s efforts to improve bus arrival times and hire new teachers.
Students “were greeted by bus drivers and school staff with smiling faces and who were eager to answer questions and to provide support wherever needed,” Hill said. “Our phenomenal teachers were ready for students on Day 1 with engaging activities, building relationships and information about classroom norms and expectations, setting the right tone for this school year.”
CMS chief operations officer Tim Ivey said on-time morning bus arrivals improved to 91% on Friday, up from 75% at the start of the week, and the on-time afternoon arrivals improved to 74%, up from 68% at the start of the week. CMS still has about 100 bus-driver vacancies, leading some drivers to run multiple routes.
Ivey also said there are “no major facility issues” and praised the “excellent operational start to the school year.”
Asked about student safety, Ivey said that besides the widely reported arrest of a woman charged with flashing a gun during a dispute in a carpool line outside Mint Hill Elementary School on Thursday, there were no major incidents. Weapons detectors found one student bringing mace and another bringing a knife last week, he said.
District leaders said there are still 130 teacher vacancies, which is the lowest number in the past three years.
CMS is North Carolina’s second-largest school district, with nearly 140,000 students across 184 schools.
Before Friday’s briefing, CMS communications officials cautioned reporters that questions should be “limited to back-to-school operations, the first four days of school and the information presented during today’s briefing,” apparently to avoid answering uncomfortable questions about the recent investigation into Hill, which public records revealed Friday will cost at least $379,000.
The school board suspended Hill with pay for two months this summer for unspecified reasons and hired a law firm to conduct an investigation. It reinstated her this month, again without providing details. Board members voted last week to provide some information by the end of September.
WCNC reported that it was told that if its reporters asked questions not related to back-to-school topics at Friday’s briefing, they “would kindly be asked to leave.”