Dr. Heath E. Morrison, who officially assumed the role of superintendent July 1, began shaping his leadership team by expanding and renaming two positions and filling two vacancies July 9. Two current CMS employees will fill the expanded positions; two educators from outside the district will fill the vacancies. Dr. Morrison also filled one of three principal vacancies remaining in the district.

The announcements were made during a special meeting of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education July 9, in which Dr. Morrison was formally sworn in as superintendent.

Ann B. Clark, the district’s chief academic officer who was also one of three finalists for the superintendency, will become deputy superintendent. The job will be an expansion of her current duties overseeing curriculum, instruction and schools. Her new responsibilities will include oversight of human resources and accountability. Her former position of chief academic officer will not be filled at this time. Earnest Winston, formerly executive coordinator for Interim Superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh, will become Dr. Morrison’s chief of staff. His former position of executive coordinator also will not be filled.

Millard L. House II, currently deputy superintendent in Oklahoma’s Tulsa Public Schools, will join CMS as chief operating officer. Frank D. Barnes, currently chief accountability officer for Boston Public Schools, will assume the same job for CMS.

“To take our district from good to great, we need an executive team that is bold and visionary – and these people were chosen from a nationwide pool,” Dr. Morrison said. “We also need a wide range of perspectives, with some CMS veterans and some new leadership. Ann brings a formidable institutional knowledge to the deputy’s job and Earnest has been involved in teaching, public information and the superintendent’s office in his career with CMS.  Our two new team members, Millard and Frank, come with strong educational experience and credentials, as well as a fresh perspective. ”

Dr. Morrison emphasized that he was filling vacancies, not reorganizing the district’s executive structure.

“After my first 100 days, when I have had time to get to know CMS and its operations, I may reorganize if I think it’s needed,” he said.

Three jobs that became vacant before and during Hattabaugh’s year as interim superintendent  had not been filled. The chief accountability officer, Robert Avossa, resigned to accept a position as superintendent of schools in Fulton County, Georgia. Hattabaugh shifted Avossa’s duties to the chief information officer, who later left to join Avossa in Georgia. Hattabaugh also left vacant the chief operating officer position he had held before he became interim superintendent.

One executive vacancy remains unfilled now -- the chief information officer, who oversees technology – and Dr. Morrison said he would fill it soon.

“Come August, we’re going to have 141,000 students knocking on the door,” he said. “We need to be ready – and that’s why filling these jobs effectively and efficiently is important.”

Morrison also announced the appointment of Angela M. Richardson to serve as principal of Alexander Middle School. Richardson began her career in 1993 as a math facilitator and teacher, working at Bruns Avenue and Derita elementary schools and Bradley and Cochrane middle schools. She was named assistant principal at Bradley in 2005 and moved to Cochrane as an assistant principal in 2008. In 2010, she was named an assistant principal at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle. She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a master’s degree in school administration, curriculum and instruction from the University of North Carolina Charlotte.

Richardson’s appointment leaves CMS with two remaining principal vacancies at Bailey Middle School and at West Charlotte High School. Interviews for the Bailey position have begun; interviews for West Charlotte will begin the week of July 9.