See a mess at CMS (it sure seems like corruption) | Hour 3

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to the Pete calendar show.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. All right. I'm going to run through this pretty quickly. I want to give you the summary of, based off of this timeline that the superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools drafted a 244-page memo. About 14 pages of it is this timeline. All the rest of it are the receipts, as the kids say. Contracts, emails, correspondence, stuff like that. The proof of what it is that she's outlining in the timeline. And what it looks like is corruption at the school board. Okay? Okay? Remember, she was put on suspension. The superintendent was. They did an investigation of her. And then she came back. Not being fired. And we don't know what they investigated, what any of the conclusions were, what kind of an improvement plan or anything like that. We don't have any information about what that was all about. She says in this memo that the board was trying to extort her to quit. To take the severance deal that included a nondisclosure agreement, that she would not talk about what all was going on, and she refused. Okay, so you've got a company that does coaching and stuff. It's called Sid Kimmel. That is owned by a woman named Kimberly McGregor. They have a contract with CMS. Then you've got Kimberly McGregor's husband, Racky McGregor, who was hired to be an executive in residence, working for the superintendent. And in 2025, three school board members opposed a motion to increase the contract amount for Sid Kimmel, the wife's nonprofit, or the wife's company, rather. And the three school board members said, this doesn't look good because her husband is... on the cabinet or in the cabinet of the superintendent. We don't like this. They voted against it. That's going to become a key point here as I go through this timeline. Again, this is all according to the superintendent and what she published. So after the 5-3 vote, where board members Nunn, Klein, and Easley voted against increasing the contract, then you have the chairwoman of the school board, Stephanie Sneed, asking the superintendent to go to the county manager and ask for a one-time allocation from the county's money for, quote, contracted services to support social emotional learning. And the superintendent says this is unusual because it was outside of the budget process and the chair of the school board does not have the authority to make that kind of request on behalf of the board. She says then, May of 2025, I was asked to attend a meeting with Chairwoman Sneed and Racky McGregor to discuss McGregor's work. After McGregor left the meeting, Sneed gave me a blue folder containing outcome data to demonstrate just how awesome the SEL services provided to CMS students by Sid Kimmel was. At the time, Sid Kimmel was providing SEL services to CMS students based on a contract paid by the county. That's why Sneed wanted her to go to the county, say, give Racky McGregor's wife's company more money, basically. After the county adopted their budget, Sneed asked the superintendent about the funding request for that she had asked for. I told Sneed I did not talk with the county manager about making this appropriation because this did not come up as an area of need during the budget process. In other words, the board did not move this forward, and so I'm not going to go and ask for something that the board is not approving. I learned the county manager had cut approximately $ 600, 000 that had been previously allocated to Sid Kimmel from the county's budget. Oh, so Sid Kimmel had their funding cut. At the county level. She says, I met with McGregor and later the cabinet team to remind everybody that certain political activities must be avoided when they are connected to professional obligations for CMS in multiple separate conversations. June 2025. We covered this at the time. June 2025. We covered this at the time. his proximity to sitting members of the board, and his association with candidates running for seats on the Board of Education. Mr. McGregor was very upset with the three board members who voted against the Sid Kimmel contract, which was still approved. Like, this is the irony. He said, you still got your money, man. They didn't win. The three board members that opposed it, they didn't win that vote. They lost that vote. You still got what you asked for. But, how dare you vote against this contract. She said, superintendent says, I believe he wanted to help get candidates elected to the board who would approve additional Sid Kimmel contracts, which makes sense because the county cut Sid Kimmel contracts. So they got to make it up someplace. Where are you going to make it up? School board. But you got three members that are voting no. So let's take them out. During this time, at the end of June, McGregor's contract as executive in residence to be a member of the CMS leadership group, that contract expires at the end of June. Now you can see, like, now they're losing money, the McGregors, right? I was contacted by a partner to review a Charlotte Ledger article titled, a CMS contractor with close ties to Crystal Hill and Charlotte business leaders is raising eyebrows by publicly supporting challengers, political payback against critics. And the article featured a Facebook post of Charlita Hatch and Racky McGregor. Hatch did win her race, by the way, right? Racky McGregor was getting involved in these races. He was appearing at these events and stuff. And this was giving Crystal Hill, the superintendent, This was raising concerns for her. And now she's seeing media reports questioning why is somebody from her administration showing up at these campaign events to try to unseat current board members? We covered this at the time, back in the summer of 25. She said, I had previously considered offering McGregor another contract. I was very uncomfortable, though, with the potential and perceived conflicts of interest involving his wife's company, Sid Kimmel, and the continued public scrutiny. I informed Mr. McGregor he would not be offered another contract as executive in residence. I called the chairwoman Sneed twice to discuss the separation. She was not supportive of this decision. Vice Chair D. Rankin expressed concerns about the decision, citing that he believed the media stories came from certain Board of Ed members. It doesn't matter where they came from, dude. What matters is whether or not they're true, and they were. November 2025, I'm skipping ahead. During my weekly meeting with the chair and vice chair, both leaders in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Black Political Caucus, there's a kingmaker organization in local politics because they have great influence in the Democrat Party in the primaries. During my weekly meeting with the chair and vice chair, I was asked why the Sid Kimmel contract with the academic services division was not going to be extended. She said, I had learned that the, that middle school assistant superintendents felt that they were on the right trajectory and had a strong plan in place. So they didn't need this, this contractor anymore. She says, I shared. that I intended to make cuts to the central office budget to provide an additional supplement for teachers in years 15 through 25. That's where she wanted to spend the money. Oh, the board members did not like that, though. All right. For over a year now, you've heard me talking about Create-A-Video, great local company in Mint Hill that has helped more than 2 million families preserve their memories by turning old photos into VHS tapes, film reels, and slides into lasting keepsakes. Now, Creative Video is helping families and groups create brand new memories while they're traveling. Introducing Group Travel Videos, perfect for family reunions, church mission trips, group vacations, destination weddings, student trips, senior adult groups, sports teams, I mean, really any gathering of people that you care about that's traveling together. 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From old memories to new adventures. Preserving life's moments for a lifetime. All right. I got an email from David. Subject line. 200 plus page memo. on apparently crooked behavior, when do these folks have any time figuring out how to get the kids learning more math and science? Well, David, they'll do that after they get their allies paid. Come on, man. What do you think they got into public service for? These contracts for their friends and allies, it's for the children. It's for the children. So the superintendent says, no, we're not going to spend this money. We're going to use it instead for teacher pay. Okay? For teacher pay. The supplement would be in addition to the supplement that I would include in my budget recommendation for county expansion, she says. Chairwoman Stephanie Sneed indicated that she thought there was a better use for those funds, but did not identify the need. During all subsequent conversations on the teacher supplement, Sneed never identified any additional needs. Why not? She's like, don't spend it on the teacher pay. I got other things I think that are more important. Oh, such as what? Crickets. November 2025. Get a load of this. This is now after the election where two of the three board members that had voted against this contract They have been ousted in the primary, okay? Racky was campaigning, showing up at these events and stuff for these people who ousted the incumbents because they voted against him and his wife's contracts, right? So, and the third member retired. So all three of those no votes, they're gone, okay? One of the new members comes in and Was it Chimay, I believe? Haynes? New school board member, Haynes. Superintendent meets with Ms. Haynes to discuss her goals and hopes for her term as a new school board member. Ms. Haynes told me her main purpose as a school board member was to make sure, quote, black businesses like Sid Kimmel get contracts, end quote. Interesting. That's your main purpose for being a school board member? Your main purpose in leading the schools is to make sure black businesses get Sid Kimmel, like Sid Kimmel get contracts? I was surprised by this response because she specifically mentioned Sid Kimmel. You have the swearing in for the new board members. And then you have the appointment of Anna Hehenberger. She's appointed as the acting general counsel or the lawyer. During closed session, this occurs. My input was not sought prior to the board making that decision. Okay. That same month, CMS's non-SEL contract with Sid Kimmel ends. January of 26. This is where what looks to be sort of a rigging of the legal office starts. You have this appointment of Anna Hehenberger. Hehenberger? Hehenberger? I don't know. Anyway, Anna. New appointment, acting general counsel. End of the month then. So that happens on January 13th. January 31st, the board terminates its contract with with longtime general counsel Andre Myers paying out a lump sum severance payment costing about $ 289, 000. We get to pay for that. Yay us. She says, I was not involved in the board's decision to terminate Ms. Mays, nor did I recommend her termination. I was not part of any of the personnel discussions involving Ms. Mays, and I was excused from the closed session when these matters were discussed. This is planning, folks. This is planning. You need to get rid of this lawyer that's going to block your efforts at doing these contracts. You're going to make another appointment, bring somebody else in, and not tell the superintendent, who was also against these contracts for Sid Kimmel and the owner of Sid Kimmel's husband. Then in February, she finds a billing entry. The superintendent finds a billing entry for a law firm called Pointer Spruill regarding potential hiring of a consultant for the schools. She says, I never initiated a conversation with this firm about hiring a consultant for the schools, and I do not know of any reason why this would be an appropriate task for this law firm to undertake. See, when I read this, it tells me This is the pass-through mechanism getting constructed, right? We're going to bring in a new lawyer. We're going to bring in a law firm. We're not going to tell the superintendent, and we're going to tell the law firm that they need to bring on a consultant. And do you want to guess who the consultant they bring on is? Racky McGregor. Surprise, surprise. So his contract ends with CMS. And lo and behold, a month later, he's now being, or they're now building this mechanism to get him another contract through this law firm, Pointer Spruill. They were selected as outside counsel to also review a grievance that was filed against Snead, the chair, Rankin, the vice chair, and the acting general counsel, Hehenberger, by a school district employee. She says, I don't know who chose this law firm for this work to do this review of a grievance from somebody inside CMS against these three people. That's February 26th. March 2026, during the weekly chair and vice chair meeting, Snead directed me not to include approximately $ 4. 5 million for an additional teacher supplement to For teachers with 15 to 25 years of experience, do not put that in your budget recommendation, they said. Sneed indicated there were better use of the funds. Rankin asked what the chair wanted to use the funding for, but she did not respond directly. Sneed asked that we put the funds on hold. I explained I must present a balanced budget and I cannot put the money on hold, so I put the $ 4. 5 million towards the funding of anticipated state raises. Do you all remember what happened when they were supposed to vote on the budget? Remember that? A couple months back? And the school board refused to adopt her budget recommendation? And then she tried to say, well, what are we doing? How do we proceed forward? And then the chair gaveled her down, and everybody was like, what the heck is going on? Well, apparently, this is what was going on. This is what was happening behind the scenes that we all didn't see. All right, continuing, excuse me, continuing with the timeline as presented by Superintendent Crystal Hill. You got this law firm that was brought in on a contracted basis. She said she didn't have any idea that this was even happening. The law firm, Pointer Spruill, along with a company called Quonet, it's It looks like the word connect, but it's spelled with a Q. So I guess it's not a qua, it's a k. So it's connect, but with a Q. Connect, LLC. Okay, so they enter into an agreement, a contract. Connect is the consultant to provide strategic advisory, influence advisory, and related services to the Poynter-Spruill contract with CMS related to the construction of the teacher housing program called At Home in CMS, that project. The term of the contract is one year, during which time the law firm pays the consultant $ 30, 000 a month. Okay? So CMS pays the law firm, law firm pays the consultant. Connected. Connect LLC is owned by, wait for it, wait for it, Racky McGregor. Crystal Hill says, I was unaware of the engagement with Connect LLC and Racky McGregor at the time this contract was entered, and I believe most board members were also unaware. However, the law firm's billing entry seemed to indicate that Snead, the chairwoman, was having regular meetings with the law firm and the consultant. I do not know how... Why or when this program was turned over to Pointer Spruill, Sneed, and McGregor, to my knowledge and that of my staff, Mr. McGregor has not provided any meaningful input or assistance with the at-home NCMS initiative since his executive in residence contract ended in 2025. Sneed and the chief financial officer, Kelly Klutz, exchanged a series of emails. Sneed informed Klutz that board operations, We'll need not included previously identified funds. We need about $ 300, 000 extra. This is what the chairwoman told the CFO of CMS. Klutz said unbudgeted funds were not available to cover those costs, but the board could appropriate funds from its fund balance. To my knowledge, Hill says, there was no board discussion or any vote to transfer funds from fund balance to allow the board to pay $ 300, 000 in contracted services. That's March of this year. April this year. The Board of Ed issues a request for proposals or an RFP for a law firm to conduct a compliance assessment. I found this decision to be unusual, and I suspected the board was launching a fishing expedition for grounds to terminate me. April 20th, during the board retreat, Dr. Hill shared she was the only individual in the room who could be fired without cause for political reasons. Sneed elevated her voice, raised her voice, and asked why Hill continued to make that statement. Coach B, the facilitator, interrupted Sneed to bring the session back to order. April 28th, 8-1 vote. The board directed me to develop a revised budget recommendation. We covered that moments ago. Sneed, later that month, or the next day rather, indicated that neither I nor my staff were allowed to attend the publicly noticed budget workshop because she claimed it was for board members only. Next day, I asked for additional information regarding next steps, and because the budget's due in eight business days and staff needs to know what to do, how to prepare, Snead became very upset and expressed she didn't care what I did. Budget workshop called to order, the agenda was amended, and the board immediately went into closed session to discuss a confidential personnel matter. May 7th, billing entry for a telephone conversation with that law firm, Sneed, and the consultant, McGregor, regarding reports, budget updates, and response to board budget questions and presentations. She says, I believe McGregor was the consultant in this meeting, and discussion was to either determine how to include a budget line item benefiting McGregor or Sid Kimmel, his wife's company, and or to discuss my personnel issues. In either case, I'm not sure the full board authorized Snead to have such discussions with McGregor. Next, I attended board budget sessions, staff meetings, and then staff provided a revised budget recommendation. There were very few substantive changes, including removing a three-year SEL contract, replacing it with a line item expenditure of approximately $ 1 million for local SEL contracted services. So they had a contract for SEL, but it was a national company. So they wanted to take that out and make it a local company. She said this change directly benefits Sid Kimmel. Surprise, surprise. Yeah, this reeks of corruption. The grumpy major on the text line says it's beginning to sound like the investigation of the superintendent was a plot to run her off and keep the board corruption out of the public eye. They thought they could force her to resign with a generous payout along with a no comment clause. That is exactly what it sounds like. But she refused. She refused to agree to their terms. And put this out. And now the State Bureau of Investigations has launched a probe at the request or is being requested to launch a probe by the Mecklenburg DA. Pre-gaming with Brett Winnable, but you don't get Brett today because Brett is off. Filling in for Brett is Matt Harris. Hello, Matt. Crowd goes crazy. Yes, sir. He's going to be filling in, but we're still doing pre-gaming with Matt today. All right. So, Matt. Uh-oh. Would you fight a chimpanzee? Have you heard this story? No, but I would not fight a chimpanzee. No, I know they go for the face and the groin. They do? Yeah. So I've heard. Yeah. I've never fought a chimp. Have you ever fought a chimpanzee? I'm not willing to let you know. So no comments from Harris on that one. Okay. What if you were a mixed martial arts fighter? Still no. Still no? I just don't. They're so strong. They are. I think I would want to know. So there's an MMA fighter named Cole Johnson who sparked widespread attention online after claiming he would take on a chimp in a one-on-one fight. He said it started off with a joke. He made a video and it was just a joke. He said he believed he could beat a chimpanzee in a fight. And then somebody offered him half a million dollars to fight a chimpanzee. So would you fight a chimp if you were an MMA fighter? No. Well, here's the problem. We have to figure out a way to get the chimpanzee to fight. Because the chimpanzee might be one of those, like, hangs around the circus. Like, hey, how you doing? Next thing you know, the guy's got him. I think he'd still bust him up. We'd whisper to the chimpanzee, he has your baby. Like a female chimp with a baby and have him take the baby first. Yes, and then try to see if he can win. So I was asked this question this morning. by Casey O'Day up in the, he asked me who I thought would win. And I said, it kind of depends. For much of the same reason you just laid out. The incentive. Which is, is it a wild chimp? Right, right, right. Or is it a domesticated one? Like in a movie or something, a chimp. Right. Because if it's a domesticated one, and you start the fight, the chimp's not going to know that it's in a fight. Yes, that's what I'm thinking. That's what I said right now. And that would give the MMA guy a chance to run up, put him in some sort of sleeper hold, and knock him out. That was my process when I said about the baby thing. However, I still think, I'm assuming once you attack and put on the sleeper hold, that chimp is going to start, even if it's a domesticated one, it's going to be like, what? It's so strong, it'll just throw you off. Now, it might not eat your face and your groin yet. Right, it may run away. Right. It may not engage. It may try to flee. But if it's a wild chimp... You're done. See, that's why I think that matters. Are you a wild MMA guy, or are you one that's been. Domesticated. Domesticated MMA fighter. I'd say you have very little chance of winning, even against a domesticated. Again, may flee, may do something else. I don't even think you can put it on a sleeper holder. Right, like, out in the wild... If you were to encounter a chimp and the chimp sees you and starts attacking you and you have to fight it in those, in that circumstance. No chance of them. Chimp. All the way. By face, by groin. By, by. In a steel cage. And they got tranquilizers. They're going to have tranquilizers ready to shoot the chimp, whatever. Like first, like, and also guys, this is not good. This is not cool. Like from an animal welfare perspective. So they're really going to do it. I don't know. No, they're not going to do it. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to the Pete Kaliner show dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.