North Charlotte Today

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ interim superintendent, Hugh Hattabaugh has a list of things he wants to do, including improving low-performing schools and school safety.

Hattabaugh, who took over the position Monday after the previous superintendent was let go, attended his first Board of Education meeting Tuesday night, and made public his commitment to accomplishing his goals.

When it comes to academic achievement, Hattabaugh said at the meeting that his blueprint “will include a line of authority from the superintendent to the schools, a results-driven line with high expectations for results to close the achievement gap,” WBTV reported. 

The plan is being finalized and is expected to be presented at the May school board meeting, the report said.

The topic of school safety includes several things, most notably working on reducing incidents of students bringing guns to school. Since August, 25 guns have been found on various campuses. 

Hattabaugh cited several ways to tackle that.

The district has installed scanners at more than two dozen schools, it has doubled the number of random safety screenings and an anonymous reporting system is now in place. So, the tools are there, he said. But what’s missing is trust between the students and adults, adding that students need to have someone to turn to if they have information about a threat.

“A visible adult that’s got a connection with the students,” he said, referring to having a way students can report it when they see someone else with a firearm. “They’ve got to be discreet in getting the information, and they have built-in a call number to enable that to happen, but we always have to remember; you can’t ask a child something in front of their peers because we can’t go back in the neighborhood to deal with it.”

Other goals Hattabaugh wants to work on include retaining teachers, restoring trust that families have in the district and hiring a communications officer.

Hattabaugh’s contract goes through the end of the 2022-2023 academic year, though it can be extended, the station reported.