As Superintendent of Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), Mecklenburg County’s third largest employer with a $2.1 billion budget, Crystal Hill’s responsibility is immense.

Hill began working as chief of staff at CMS in May 2022 and was named interim superintendent in January 2023. In May 2023, she was named the district’s permanent superintendent, making her the first black woman to hold that role.

Hill, who has more than 27 years of experience in education, has been a teacher and school principal, worked in human resources and beyond. At CMS, Hill leads approximately 19,000 employees and more than 141,000 students.

“Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools is a $2.1 billion business, and I think it’s very difficult for people to grasp that,” Hill said.

Navigating the multi-layered responsibilities of a large school district—CMS is the 16th largest public school district in the United States, according to Niche.com—presents unique challenges, especially for leadership.

In a recent conversation with QCity Metro, the superintendent mentioned the complexities of managing such a large organization, as well as its rewards. She noted her proudest moments, some of the challenges she faced, and more.

“I wake up every day very excited,” she said.

Moving to more stability

Hill described CMS as being in a state of transition when she became superintendent and said one of her priorities was stabilizing the district after constant change.

Since 2011, the district has had five leaders before Hill. Changes in leadership and other factors, such as the effects of the pandemic, have led to increased staff turnover and unique challenges that Hill said the district is still working to address.

“The impact (Covid) had on students and the impact it had on adults and employees … we’re still seeing the impact of that,” Hill told QCity Metro.

Hill said her predecessors each brought unique strengths to the district and credits them with setting it up for what she hopes will be future success.

“I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to come in at this time as we begin to stabilize and move toward achieving some pretty amazing goals,” Hill said, noting the district’s strategic plan.

As for successes, Hill said she sometimes finds herself “stuck in work” with little time to make progress.

Finding “bright spots”

With such a large district undergoing change — opening new schools, closing others, changing grade levels and district goals — Hill said she’s determined to slow down and find “bright spots” whenever she can.

One of those bright spots was found in the first week of the 2024-2025 school year. Hill said the week went “very smoothly.”

“I would say the first week of school was probably the best I’ve ever seen in 27 years,” she said. “We opened three new buildings. (And) our transportation department, school nutrition, everything was so good.”

Hill noted that while there were typical first-week challenges, overall the district’s first week was free of major disruptions.

Another bright spot, she said, was the district’s Parent and Family Advisory Council (PFAC), which Hill added during his first year as superintendent. While superintendent advisory committees have long existed in CMS, Hill said there hasn’t been one specifically for family and parent representatives.

Initially, the PFAC consisted of 27 individuals, essentially a random selection of interested individuals from each of the district’s nine learning communities.

But this year, Hill said, she wanted to make more connections with families and increase opportunities for parents’ voices to be heard.

Now, the PFAC is a group of about 370 people, with two people representing each of the district’s 186 schools, Hill said.

The advisory board serves as a way for parents to advocate on behalf of their children’s school and other parents. Hill said the next planned meeting will be in November.

However, this school year has not been without its challenges, especially as the district undertakes a new strategic plan and adjusts its learning communities to be organized by grade level rather than geographically, as it was some time before Hill’s leadership.

Using “alignment” as the key

Hill said the key to undergoing these changes is most easily found in “alignment.”

“We aligned everything from the board’s goals to the department or should I say our strategic plan, our annual plan, departmental plans and school improvement plans. So there is a very clear alignment,” she said.

She noted that having more departments clear on their goals and the language and expectations around them is the first step toward greater stability in the district.

That stability, she said, will ultimately make way for the district to meet its academic goals and create what she described as better student outcomes.

“We’re getting very tight on teaching and learning and things like that,” Hill said.

She said the foundation of the current success the district is seeing and any future success is based on the systems in place or under construction.

“Alignment and organization, making sure there are strong systems and processes in place… If you have processes and procedures in place, it doesn’t matter who or what comes in, you can get things done. And that’s what we’re building right now, and we’re already seeing great results from that.”

“Managing change is real and it’s a big thing,” the superintendent said, stressing the importance of carefully navigating recent transitions.

Despite still having “a lot of work to do,” Hill said she’s proud of the progress so far and attributes the success so far to her team.

“We have amazing team members,” she told Qcity Metro, mentioning the Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education and the community as part of the team. “We have just wonderful people. 19,000 people (outside) is absolutely fantastic.”

Looking ahead

“In the next five to 10 years, my hope in a perfect world is that we would have worked very hard to stabilize Charlotte Mecklenburg schools,” Hill said. “Our targets will expire in 2029, so my expectation would be that we would have exceeded our targets that were set in 2024.”

Hill said he hopes to see the district in a place that meets every part of the strategic plan and checks off the current goals it has.

“And really, my greatest hope is that whoever comes next, we can leave a strong legacy for the next leader to build on.”