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The Next Superintendent of CMS: Clayton Wilcox

A picture of Clayton Wilcox from the Washington County (Maryland) Public Schools website.

The superintendent of the school system that serves Hagerstown, Maryland, is the next superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The CMS board Tuesday announced the hiring of Clayton Wilcox. He begins July 1.

Wilcox has been in his current position since 2011. He has also served as a superintendent in the Tampa Bay region of Florida (Pinellas County Schools), and in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In addition, he's served as a senior vice president for Scholastic, which sells books and education materials.

While he won’t start at CMS until after the school board is scheduled to finalize a new school assignment plan, Wilcox says a lot of difficult work will remain in relation to that plan.

"I'm happy that a lot of that hard, grueling work has been done. Some of that raw emotion has been released. But at the same time, I think the work sometimes of implementing can be more difficult than the planning, so I’m prepared to roll up my sleeves and try to make the vision that the board has come to life."

Wilcox will be paid $280,000 a year under the terms of the four-year contract. The board is expected to formally approve that contract in January.

"We interviewed some amazing candidates," said school board member Elyse Dashew. "It was not an easy choice, but he has a long track record. He has incredible experience. He has a lot of longevity at each of his jobs and he has a real warmth and genuineness to him."

Lisa Worf traded the Midwest for Charlotte in 2006 to take a job at WFAE. She worked with public TV in Detroit and taught English in Austria before making her way to radio. Lisa graduated from University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in English.