Did Local Superintendent Breach Conflicts of Interest?

Written by: Gaius Mucius Scaevola

Superintendent Nyah Hamlett of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, not immune from controversy after allegedly plagiarizing her doctoral dissertation, has now opened herself up to charges of conflicts of interest after strong patterns in her hiring practices have been revealed.

This October the Superintendent approved the hiring of her husband, Breon Hamlett, to work at Carrboro High School as their head basketball coach. While not necessarily a coveted position within the district, the position does come with a taxpayer funded salary and raises the question of whether fair hiring practices were used.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board Policy 7100, section C, subsection 3, part C clearly outlines that “When making recommendations for the selection and assignment of personnel, the superintendent shall attempt to avoid situations in which one employee occupies a position in which he or she has influence over the employment status, including hiring, salary, and promotion, of another employee who is a member of the first employee’s immediate family.” The General Assembly of North Carolina also requires all employees of a school district’s administrative unit to undergo at least two hours of conflict of interest training a year. 

The hiring of the superintendent’s husband follows a wider pattern of Hamlett seemingly hiring friends and confidants. Hamlett previously worked in Henrico County, Virginia as Assistant Superintendent, and since moving to Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools her choices for Deputy Superintendent for Operations, Chief Communications Officer, Principal of East Chapel Hill High School, and Assistant Principal of East Chapel Hill High School, have all been from Henrico County. 

While these hirings are not a clear violation of a conflict of interest, the question of whether or not the most competitive candidates have been hired is clearly warranted. For instance, before becoming principal of the academically rigorous and highly ranked East Chapel Hill High School, Jesse Casey’s experience was managing The Campus at Virginia Randolph in Henrico County, an alternative school that prioritizes skill training and career readiness over college preparation, two objectively very different types of learning environments. 

Additionally, both Jesse Casey and his Assistant Principal, Jeriel Champion, also from Henrico County, did not have valid North Carolina educator’s licenses at their time of hire, according to emails obtained by the Carolina Review. Both Casey and Champion were hired in June of 2022, but in a February 2023 email, a Human Resources employee asserted the status of Casey’s and Champion’s licenses was “currently pending”. This is in apparent contradiction to CHCCS Board Policy 7130, section A, subsection 1, which states “a person employed in a professional educator position must hold at all times a valid North Carolina professional educator’s license appropriate to his or her position.” Superintendent Hamlett has also publicly documented her friendship with Casey’s wife, calling her a “pretty dope friend” on X over a year before Jesse Casey’s hiring as principal of East Chapel Hill was announced. This puts their qualifications and the motives behind their hiring into further question.

This hiring pattern has not gone unnoticed by students, with the student newspaper of East Chapel Hill High School publishing a satirical piece last year commenting on the immense amounts of hires from Hamlett’s previous district. Other community members have also voiced concerns, with one longtime Chapel Hill resident of nearly thirty years, who wished to remain anonymous because of fears of retribution, thinking the hiring of Nyah Hamlett’s husband “screams nepotism” and the high concentration of employees from Henrico County was a “very strange coincidence”.

The Carolina Review reached out to CHCCS Chief Communications Officer Andy Jenks, who was also previously employed by Henrico County Public Schools. He was unavailable for comment.