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The Superintendents to Watch award recognizes up to 25 school district leaders each year who have fewer than five years of experience as a superintendent and who demonstrate dynamic, fast-paced leadership with strong communication at its core.
Dr. Crystal L. Hill, is superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), the 16th largest public school system in the United States and the 2nd largest in North Carolina. She is responsible for 141,000 students enrolled in the district’s 186 schools under the leadership and support of nearly 20,000 employees. Dr. Hill is an engaged, visible, and inspiring leader. She has been instrumental in pushing “excellence without exception” at CMS and supports the district work through our four pillars of excellence: academic, people, operation, and engagement. Dr. Hill leads by example and is committed to engagement excellence.
Dr. Hill works to both engage and update several stakeholder groups on a regular basis: the Board of Education, cabinet, central office, principals, families and community partners. In addition, she holds several advisory committees: leaders, teachers, support staff, families, and students. She speaks at several engagements and events to share out on the strategic plan and district/Board goals. In addition, she holds several media briefings throughout the year as a way to engage media partners, families and the greater Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community with what is happening in our district.
Dr. Hill also led the district’s successful, historic $2.5 billion bond campaign, which is the largest in North Carolina history. Mecklenburg County Commissioners also confirmed their confidence in Hill’s leadership and vision with a fully funded budget request for the second consecutive year. Dr. Hill not only leads the second largest school district in the state, she serves in many additional leadership capacities. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors for Leading on Opportunity Council, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte School of Education, READ Charlotte, and the North Carolina Association of School Administrators. She also co-chaired the North Carolina State Board of Education Literacy Task Force.
Dr. Hill has earned numerous awards and recognition, including the Aspire Award from The Innovation Project, the Charlotte Hornets Social Justice Power Forward Award, and being named to Black Business Ink’s Power 100 list.
Dr. Hill is seen using multiple ways to engage families and staff. Leading by example, she sends personalized messages (written, audio, and video) for our staff and families. Dr. Hill visits schools to keep focused on supporting learning and teaching by engaging with students and educators. Equity is not only a district guardrail, “Equity over Equality: Reducing Achievement Gaps,” it is at the forefront in decision making.
This year, we have added ParentSquare as our District-Wide communication tool for both district and building communication. The district and all 186 individual schools can send messages, posts, and alerts (via phone, text, or email–at the user preference) in their preferred language. At CMS, we have students from 175 countries of origin, speaking over 146 native languages. Onboarding ParentSquare as a district-wide tool is a major investment to ensure all families have access to district and building communication. ParentSquare provides automatic translation for over 100 languages. In addition, ParentSqaure allows parents to engage in messaging with principals and teachers, diving them a direct line for two-way communication which is one of our priorities in our strategic plan under the pillar of engagement excellence: “Establish open dialogue for two-way communication between the district and community, providing clear information and listening attentively.”
This priority is being accomplished through several different strategies:
-Establish open dialogue for two-way communication between the district and community, providing clear information and listening attentively.
-Continue to enhance and improve district and school websites, communication channels and social media.
-Improve internal communication structures to ensure all employees receive timely district news and important information.
-Communicate with families in multiple languages and modes to best meet their needs.
In addition to our newly adopted district-wide tool of ParentSquare, Dr. Hill engages with media, business, and organizational partners as well as internal stakeholders. We have a robust website. Many of our web tools are available in English and Spanish, as Hispanic and Latino families are the second highest student demographic. Dr. Hill and the district also have several social media channels to broaden our reach of both information and resources. Weekly communication goes out to the Board, cabinet, principals, employees, and pertinent information goes out as needed to keep our staff informed.
Due to Dr. Hill’s leadership, the communication division has added leadership to support three areas: crisis and mass communications, executive and internal communications, and video and digital communications. With these three teams, we are able to support effective and efficient internal and external communications.
Because of Dr. Hill’s visionary leadership, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools now has a five year Strategic Plan linked here. There are four pillars of excellence: Academic, People, Operational and Engagement. Within the Engagement Pillar of Excellence there are four priorities:
-Work collaboratively with community partners and governmental agencies to equitably meet the needs of our students and staff
-Strengthen home-school partnerships to increase student academic achievement
-Establish open dialogue for two way communication between the district and community, providing clear information and listening attentively
-Coordinate with community organizations and pursue new funding opportunities to provide the resources needed for our students and staff, and to create new opportunities for them
Specific strategies for Priority 3 for communication include:
-Maintain effective collaboration with media partners to share positive and uplifting stories of CMS and our students
-Continue to improve District and school websites, communication channels, and social media
-Strengthen our customer service at every touch point, and institute a system for measuring our quality of service to inform improvements
-Improve internal communication structures to ensure all employees receive timely District news and important information
-Communicate with families in multiple languages and modes to best meet their needs
The broader Charlotte community was deeply involved with the development of these priorities and strategies through Superintendent Town Halls, a Superintendent Think Tank and ongoing reports on progress to the community and Board of Education. In the first year of the plan’s execution, strategies have been organized into projects, project charters have been developed, including stakeholder analyses and the development of communication plans as a part of project execution. Department plans are located on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools website and progress on annual projects are reported through Board of Education student outcomes focused governance meetings at each meeting. A district annual report will be shared each year of the strategic plan to share progress and areas of focus for the next school year.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools – and by extension Superintendent Hill – are committed to being collaborative and inclusive community partners, ensuring consistent two-way communication that equitably meets needs, sources funding, and creates new opportunities for all.
Dr. Hill is an active member of the Charlotte community. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors for Leading on Opportunity Council, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte School of Education, READ Charlotte, and the North Carolina Association of School Administrators. She also co-chaired the North Carolina State Board of Education Literacy Task Force.
She welcomes and encourages community involvement in the district and in our schools. She is in high demand and receives many invitations to speak at various community events and meetings. Hardly a week that goes by when she doesn’t have an invitation to address a community organization or serve as a panel participant.
Since July 2024, she has been an invited guest speaker or panelist at more than one dozen organizations. Invitations for events later this year and into the new year already are filling her calendar.
She has been a guest speaker at events for Communities in Schools, Canopy Realtors, City of Charlotte, Urban League, Northwest Corridor Council of Elders, League of Women Voters, ENLACE Latin American Coalition of Charlotte, United Way Funders Collaborative, Classroom Central, and the CMS Foundation to name a few.
Additionally, Dr. Hill engages with the community through local media outlets. She has appeared on local news programs, podcasts, and specials to discuss various education topics. She also leads briefings for the district with local media outlets, providing updates and answering questions.
The community that she serves also recognizes her efforts. Dr. Hill has been honored with numerous awards and recognition, including the Aspire Award from The Innovation Project, the Charlotte Hornets Social Justice Power Forward Award, and was named to Black Business Ink’s Power 100 List.
B.A. - Mississippi State University; MPA - University of Georgia
I believe school PR/communications is what I was born to do! One of the biggest decisions a parent can make is where to send their child to school, and it’s an honor to share with our parents the engaging work that their children are doing under the guidance of world-class teachers and leaders. On any given day, in any given school, there are many stories to be told and I take that charge seriously. As school communicators played a key role in COVID-19 communications, storytelling was more important than ever – not only did I share information with parents about our protocols, but I also made over 80 visits to schools last year and told a variety of stories about how students were thriving with both in-person and distance learning options. I also worked with principals to determine best mitigation practices and helped make those pervasive, because positive action must be the foundation of what we are ultimately communicating. School public relations is incredibly complex and I love that each day brings a new challenge.
My greatest school PR success was completing 11 nationally-innovative school communication audits using a process of research, planning, implementation, and evaluation. I am now in phase two of this project and am attending school council meetings to garner feedback from parents about school-level communication and how I can better support the work of their schools. One of the most significant findings is that as students take more ownership of their learning, they also take more ownership in parent communication. Therefore, next steps are to better prepare parents for this transition and to also determine best practices from exemplar teachers and coaches at the secondary level so we can strike the right balance with parents feeling informed and fostering student independence.
My greatest school PR challenge is overcoming rigidity. Like many PR professionals, I am detail-oriented and a self-described perfectionist. It’s a blessing and a curse to see when something is one pixel off, but the greatest challenge I have faced in my 13 years in this field is to learn to be more flexible. I might have an aversion to Comic Sans or Curlz, but it’s not the end of the world if those are a font favorite elsewhere. What’s more important is the bigger picture – staff and parents feeling well-informed and students growing and learning in positive school cultures. Instead of telling someone their website isn’t formatted properly, I now make a 2-3 minute screencast if I think there’s a quick tutorial I can offer to provide ongoing professional learning. By being much more flexible, I have deepened relationships and become better at supporting the most important job that occurs in our school system: teaching.
My favorite part of my job is the relationships. I often say that there is no substitute for showing up, and that’s why I make so many school visits each year. From getting to hold a gorgeous monarch butterfly to watching a vibrant student musical to seeing 3-D printing in action from engineering students, I have witnessed countless unique opportunities, and these experiences are just a small piece of what our students get to take part in each and every day. If I didn’t take the time to form relationships, I wouldn’t know that what students value is knowing that the photos I take may show up in their yearbooks. I wouldn’t know the myriad of annual activities that teachers do across our schools because I wouldn’t have witnessed them firsthand. I wouldn’t know about the families of our principals or what they believe makes their school unique. All of that is invaluable because at the end of the day and at the end of this career, relationships are what will remain – both professionally and personally.
The communication tool I use the most is Canva! I would be a brand ambassador if they asked! I am not very mathematically-minded and it can be challenging for someone with an eye for good design – but not an eye for rulers and gridlines – to be a graphic designer. However, Canva has made it possible and I am able to create aesthetically-pleasing graphics with short turn-around times. I have trained communication ambassadors at our schools how to use it as well. Right after Canva, the tool I most use is iMovie. I am completely self-taught in videography and using iMovie and Canva together has made me someone who can add “videographer” to their list of expertise.