CMS board updates organizational chart to reflect legal, compliance changes

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board has posted an updated organizational chart on its page of the district website. The step followed a WFAE report noting that no easily found chart showed the structural changes the board made earlier this year. According to the article, those changes came through policy revisions since the start of the year. They combine legal and compliance work in one department and create a new board governance office.

The chart shows the board now has three direct reports: the superintendent, a chief compliance, legal and advocacy officer, and a board governance, support and operations officer. Before, the board's direct reports were the superintendent, the general counsel and a chief compliance officer. Under the new setup, a director of compliance and the general counsel both report to the new chief officer instead of a compliance chief reporting to the board.

The chart does not say who holds each job. WFAE reported that several of the new roles are vacant or filled on a temporary basis. Since the superintendent was fired, all three direct-report positions are either vacant or held by an interim employee. The chief legal, compliance and advocacy role has never been filled, even though a request for information for a search firm went out in April. The compliance director job is vacant, an acting general counsel has served since the prior one left in January, and the governance officer recently departed. CMS told WFAE that, apart from a new senior litigation attorney role, none of the positions has been approved for hiring.