CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A newly obtained internal email shows just four days before the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education suspended former Superintendent Dr. Clayton Wilcox, he sent the entire school board an update about two issues.
The email, dated July 11, alerted the board of 26 teacher vacancies and gave an update about the district's fingerprinting failure.
Although no official reason was ever given for Wilcox's suspension and resignation, it has been speculated his practice of not fingerprinting new hires could have contributed.
"CMS is making substantial progress to ensure all employees are fingerprinted before the state of the school," Wilcox wrote in the email.
The school district has been fingerprinting the over 3,200 employees who had not been fingerprinted upon hire. The process is costing more than $30,000.
Leading up to his resignation, Dr. Wilcox accepted blame for the security lapse.
On Friday, the school boarded appointed Earnest Winston the district's new superintendent. Winston, who had been serving as interim superintendent, started with the district as a teacher in 2004.
RELATED: New CMS leader went from making $37,000 as teacher in 2004 to $280,000 as superintendent today
Friday also marked the day Wilcox officially resigned. He had started with the district in 2017.